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READING PLAN
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COMMENTARY
DICTIONARY
ZEFANIABIBLE_READING_PLAN_DAY 141 ZEFANIABIBLE_READING_PLAN_DAY 142ZEFANIABIBLE_READING_PLAN_DAY 143

ZEFANIABIBLE_BIBLE_BOOK_NAME_18 bible chapter 4

2
Should anyone try to speak with you when you are exhausted? Yet who can keep from speaking?
3
Look! You have instructed many and have strengthened weak hands.
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Your words have steadied the one who was stumbling, and braced the knees that were buckling.
5
But now that this has happened to you, you have become exhausted. It strikes you, and you are dismayed.
6
Isn't your piety your confidence, and the integrity of your life your hope?
7
Consider: who has perished when he was innocent? Where have the honest been destroyed?
8
In my experience, those who plow injustice and those who sow trouble reap the same.
9
They perish at a [single] blast from God and come to an end by the breath of His nostrils.
10
The lion may roar and the fierce lion growl, but the fangs of young lions are broken.
11
The strong lion dies if [it catches] no prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
12
A word was brought to me in secret; my ears caught a whisper of it.
13
Among unsettling thoughts from visions in the night, when deep sleep descends on men,
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fear and trembling came over me and made all my bones shake.
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A wind passed by me, and I shuddered with fear.
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[A figure] stood there, but I could not recognize its appearance; a form loomed before my eyes. I heard a quiet voice:
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"Can a person be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker?"
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If God puts no trust in His servants and He charges His angels with foolishness,
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how much more those who dwell in clay houses, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth!
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They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk; they perish forever while no one notices.
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Are their tent cords not pulled up? They die without wisdom.

ZEFANIABIBLE_BIBLE_BOOK_NAME_18 bible chapter 5

1
Call out if you please. Will anyone answer you? Which of the holy ones will you turn to?
2
For anger kills a fool, and jealousy slays the gullible.
3
I have seen a fool taking root, but I immediately pronounced a curse on his home.
4
His children are far from safety. They are crushed at the [city] gate, with no one to defend [them].
5
The hungry consume his harvest, even taking it out of the thorns. The thirsty pant for his children's wealth.
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For distress does not grow out of the soil, and trouble does not sprout from the ground.
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But mankind is born for trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
8
However, if I were you, I would appeal to God and would present my case to Him.
9
He does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.
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He gives rain to the earth and sends water to the fields.
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He sets the lowly on high, and mourners are lifted to safety.
12
He frustrates the schemes of the crafty so that they achieve no success.
13
He traps the wise in their craftiness so that the plans of the deceptive are quickly brought to an end.
14
They encounter darkness by day, and they grope at noon as if it were night.
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He saves the needy from their sharp words and from the clutches of the powerful.
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So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth.
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See how happy the man is God corrects; so do not reject the discipline of the Almighty.
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For He crushes but also binds up; He strikes, but His hands also heal.
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He will rescue you from six calamities; no harm will touch you in seven.
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In famine He will redeem you from death, and in battle, from the power of the sword.
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You will be safe from slander and not fear destruction when it comes.
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You will laugh at destruction and hunger and not fear the animals of the earth.
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For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the wild animals will be at peace with you.
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You will know that your tent is secure, and nothing will be missing when you inspect your home.
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You will also know that your offspring will be many and your descendants like the grass of the earth.
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You will approach the grave in full vigor, as a stack of sheaves is gathered in its season.
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We have investigated this, and it is true! Hear it and understand [it] for yourself.

ZEFANIABIBLE_BIBLE_BOOK_NAME_18 bible chapter 6

2
If only my grief could be weighed and my devastation placed with it on a scale.
3
For then it would outweigh the sand of the seas! That is why my words are rash.
4
Surely the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks their poison. God's terrors are arrayed against me.
5
Does a wild donkey bray over fresh grass or an ox low over its fodder?
6
Is bland food eaten without salt? Is there flavor in an egg white?
7
I refuse to touch [them]; they are like contaminated food.
8
If only my request would be granted and God would provide what I hope for:
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that He would decide to crush me, to unleash His power and cut me off!
10
It would still bring me comfort, and I would leap for joy in unrelenting pain that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
11
What strength do I have that I should continue to hope? What is my future, that I should be patient?
12
Is my strength that of stone, or my flesh made of bronze?
13
Since I cannot help myself, [the hope for] success has been banished from me.
14
A despairing man should receive loyalty from his friends, even if he abandons the fear of the Almighty.
15
My brothers are as treacherous as a wadi, as seasonal streams that overflow
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and become darkened because of ice, and the snow melts into them.
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The wadis evaporate in warm weather; they disappear from their channels in hot weather.
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Caravans turn away from their routes, go up into the desert, and perish.
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The caravans of Tema look [for these streams]. The traveling merchants of Sheba hope for them.
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They are ashamed because they had been confident [of finding water]. When they arrive there, they are frustrated.
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So [this] is what you have now become [to me]. When you see something dreadful, you are afraid.
22
Have I ever said: Give me [something] or Pay a bribe for me from your wealth
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or Deliver me from the enemy's power or Redeem me from the grasp of the ruthless?
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Teach me, and I will be silent. Help me understand what I did wrong.
25
How painful honest words can be! But what does your rebuke prove?
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Do you think that you can disprove [my] words or that a despairing man's words are [mere] wind?
27
No doubt you would cast [lots] for a fatherless child and negotiate a price to [sell] your friend.
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But now, please look at me; would I lie to your face?
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Reconsider; don't be unjust. Reconsider; my righteousness is still the issue.
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Am I lying, or can I not recognize lies?