H974 bāḥan - to prove or test

Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament commentary on the use of bāḥan, translated "prove" in the ESV, in Psalm 26.2, "This root (bāḥan) and its derivatives occur thirty-two times in the OT, chiefly in Job, Psalms, and Jeremiah. It often appears in parallel with nāsâ (‏נָסָה‎) and ṣārap (‏צָרַף‎), its meaning falling about midway between the two. nāsâ means "to put to the test tempt" (in the archaic sense), while ṣārap means "to smelt, refine." bāḥan partakes of both of these in that it denotes examining to determine essential qualities, especially integrity. Whereas bāḥan usually has God as its subject, nāsâ occurs almost equally with man as its subject. ṣārap when used in the religious sense has only God as subject and man as object. But bāḥan in contrast to the other two, is used almost exclusively in the spiritual or religious realm. Furthermore, whereas ṣārap and nāsâ denote attaining knowledge through testing, bāḥan seems to denote attaining knowledge intellectually or intuitively. Thus it seems to have the most spiritual connotations of these three synonyms."

Psalm 26:2 (ESV)Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind.