Verses 4-5 form a close unit through their parallelism.

“Take away the dross from the silver”: “Take away” means “remove” or “skim off.” “Dross” is the scum of impurities that forms on the surface of a molten metal. The impurities must be removed before the silversmith begins to make anything.

“And the smith has material for a vessel”: This line is literally “and there goes out for the smith a vessel.” “The smith” is the craftsman who works with silver to produce silver objects. “A vessel” means an object or utensil. It must be assumed that the smith goes through the whole process of producing a silver vessel. Note Good News Translation “and the artist can produce. . ..” We may also translate, for example, “Take out the impurities from the silver and the silver worker can make a cup.” In some languages this verse is best expressed using an “if” construction; for example, “If people take out the rubbish from silver to make it clean, the worker can make good things with it.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .