Job 1:14

Contemporary English Version

when someone rushed up to Job and said, "While your servants were plowing with your oxen, and your donkeys were nearby eating grass,

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
a messenger came to Job and reported: “While the oxen were plowing and the donkeys grazing nearby,

Hebrew Names Version
that there came a messenger to Iyov, and said, "The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them,

King James Version
And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:

English Standard Version
and there came a messenger to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them,

New Century Version
A messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were eating grass nearby,

New English Translation
and a messenger came to Job, saying, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing beside them,

Amplified Bible
and a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were feeding beside them,

New American Standard Bible
a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the female donkeys feeding beside them,

World English Bible
that there came a messenger to Job, and said, "The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them,

Geneva Bible (1587)
There came a messenger vnto Iob, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding in their places,

Legacy Standard Bible
a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them,

Berean Standard Bible
a messenger came and reported to Job: "While the oxen were plowing and the donkeys grazing nearby,

Complete Jewish Bible
a messenger came to him and said, "The oxen were plowing, with the donkeys grazing near them,

Darby Translation
And there came a messenger to Job and said, The oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them;

Easy-to-Read Version
A messenger came to Job and said, "We were plowing the fields with the oxen and the donkeys were eating grass nearby,

George Lamsa Translation
And there came a messenger to Job, and said to him, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding be side them;

Good News Translation
a messenger came running to Job. "We were plowing the fields with the oxen," he said, "and the donkeys were in a nearby pasture.

Lexham English Bible
And a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing, and the female donkeys were feeding beside them.

Literal Translation
And a messenger came to Job and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses were feeding beside them.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
there came a messaunger vnto Iob, and sayde: Whyle the oxen were a plowinge, and the Asses goinge in the pasture besyde them:

American Standard Version
that there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them;

Bible in Basic English
And a man came to Job, and said, The oxen were ploughing, and the asses were taking their food by their side:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
There came a messenger vnto Iob, and sayde: The oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
that there came a messenger unto Job, and said: 'The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them;

King James Version (1611)
And there came a messenger vnto Iob, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them,

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And, behold, there came a messenger to Job, and said to him, The yokes of oxen were ploughing, and the she-asses were feeding near them;

English Revised Version
that there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
a messanger cam to Job, `whiche messanger seide, Oxis eriden, and femal assis `weren lesewid bisidis tho;

Update Bible Version
that there came a messenger to Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them;

Webster's Bible Translation
And there came a messenger to Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:

New King James Version
and a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them,

New Living Translation
a messenger arrived at Job's home with this news: "Your oxen were plowing, with the donkeys feeding beside them,

New Life Bible
a man came to Job with news, saying, "The oxen were pulling the plow and the donkeys were eating beside them.

New Revised Standard
a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were feeding beside them,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, a messenger, came in unto Job, and said, - The oxen, were plowing, and, the asses, feeding beside them;

Douay-Rheims Bible
There came a messenger to Job, and said: The oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them,

Revised Standard Version
and there came a messenger to Job, and said, "The oxen were plowing and the asses feeding beside them;

Young's Literal Translation
And a messenger hath come in unto Job and saith, `The oxen have been plowing, and the she-asses feeding by their sides,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them,

Contextual Overview

¹³ Job's sons and daughters were having a feast in the home of his oldest son, ¹⁴ when someone rushed up to Job and said, "While your servants were plowing with your oxen, and your donkeys were nearby eating grass, ¹⁵ a gang of Sabeans attacked and stole the oxen and donkeys! Your other servants were killed, and I was the only one who escaped to tell you." ¹⁶ That servant was still speaking, when a second one came running up and saying, "God sent down a fire that killed your sheep and your servants. I am the only one who escaped to tell you." ¹⁷ Before that servant finished speaking, a third one raced up and said, "Three gangs of Chaldeans attacked and stole your camels! All of your other servants were killed, and I am the only one who escaped to tell you." ¹⁸ That servant was still speaking, when a fourth one dashed up and said, "Your children were having a feast and drinking wine at the home of your oldest son, ¹⁹ when suddenly a windstorm from the desert blew the house down, crushing all of your children. I am the only one who escaped to tell you."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

messenger: 1 Samuel 4:17, 2 Samuel 15:13, Jeremiah 51:31

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 28:31 - ox Job 9:17 - multiplieth Job 39:10 - General Psalms 42:7 - Deep calleth Proverbs 23:5 - riches

Cross-References

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:2
The earth was barren, with no form of life; it was under a roaring ocean covered with darkness. But the Spirit of God was moving over the water.

Genesis 1:3

The First Day

God said, "I command light to shine!" And light started shining.

Genesis 1:4
God looked at the light and saw that it was good. He separated light from darkness

Genesis 1:6

The Second Day

God said, "I command a dome to separate the water above it from the water below it."

Genesis 1:7
And that's what happened. God made the dome

Genesis 1:8
and named it "Sky." Evening came and then morning—that was the second day.

Genesis 1:9

The Third Day

God said, "I command the water under the sky to come together in one place, so there will be dry ground." And that's what happened.

Genesis 1:12
The earth produced all kinds of vegetation. God looked at what he had done, and it was good.

Genesis 1:14

The Fourth Day

God said, "I command lights to appear in the sky and to separate day from night and to show the time for seasons, special days, and years.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And there came a messenger unto Job,.... Not a messenger of Satan, as Jarchi, or one of his angels, or evil spirits; though this is a sense which is embraced not only by some Jewish Rabbins, but by several of the ancient Christian writers, as Sanctius on the place observes; and such they suppose the other messengers after mentioned were; but both this and they were servants of Job, who escaped the calamity that came upon the rest of their fellow servants:

and said, the oxen were ploughing: the five hundred yoke of oxen Job had, Job 1:3, which were all out in the fields, and employed in ploughing them; and to plough with such was usual in those times and countries, as it now is in some places; see 1 Kings 19:19

and the asses feeding beside them; beside the oxen, where they were ploughing, in pasture ground, adjoining to the arable land; and beside the servants that were ploughing with the oxen: "at their hands" b; as it may be literally rendered, just by them, under their eye and care; or "in their places" c; where they should be, and where they used to feed d; these were the five hundred asses, male and female, reckoned among Job's substance, Job 1:3, which were brought hither to feed, and some for the servants to ride on; this ploughed land being at some distance from Job's house; and others to carry the seed that was was to be sown here: now the situation and employment of these creatures are particularly mentioned, to show that they were in their proper places, and at their proper work; and that what befell them was not owing to the want of care of them, or to the indolence and negligence of the servants.

b על ידיהם "ad manus eorum", Mercerus. c "Suis locis", Vatablus, Schmidt; so Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Bar Tzemach. d "More solito", Schultens.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And there came a messenger unto Job - Hebrew מלאך mal'âk; the word usually rendered “angel,” appropriately rendered “messenger” here. The word properly means “one who is sent.”

The oxen were plowing - Hebrew “the cattle” (בקר bâqâr) including not merely “oxen,” but probably also “cows;” see the notes at Job 1:3.

And the asses - Hebrew אתון 'âthôn “she-asses.” The “sex” is here expressly mentioned and Dr. Good maintains that it should be in the translation. So it is in the Septuagint αἱ θήλειαι ὄνοι hai thēleiai onoi. So Jerome, “asinoe.” The reason why the sex is specified is, that female asses, on account of their milk, were much more valuable than males. On this account they were preferred also for traveling; see the notes at Job 1:3.

Beside them - Hebrew “By their hands,” that is, by their sides, for the Hebrew יד yâd is often used in this sense; compare the notes at Isaiah 33:21.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 1:14. The asses feeding beside them — אתנות athonoth, the she-asses, which appear to have been more domesticated, as of more worth and use than the others, both for their milk and their work.