While this one was still speaking another messenger arrived and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,

I was in peace, and he has shattered me. ¹  He has seized me by the neck and crushed me. ²  He has made me his target;

Then Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry. ¹  He was angry ²  with Job for justifying ³  himself rather than God. ⁴ 

That person sings ¹  to others, ²  saying: ‘I have sinned and falsified what is right, but I was not punished according to what I deserved. ³ 

Job took a shard of broken pottery to scrape ¹  himself ²  with while he was sitting ³  among the ashes. ⁴ 

With Job’s ¹  three friends he was also angry, because they could not find ²  an answer, and so declared Job guilty. ³ 

so that my heart was secretly enticed, and my hand threw them a kiss from my mouth, ¹ 

He has searched ¹  the sources ²  of the rivers and what was hidden he has brought into the light.

if I looked at the sun ¹  when it was shining, and the moon advancing as a precious thing,

“O that I could be ¹  as ²  I was in the months now gone, ³  in the days ⁴  when God watched ⁵  over me,

His possessions ¹  included ²  7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys; in addition he had a very great household. ³  Thus he ⁴  was the greatest of all the people in the east. ⁵ 

I chose ¹  the way for them ²  and sat as their chief; ³  I lived like a king among his troops; I was like one who comforts mourners. ⁴ 

By the brush ¹  they would gather ²  herbs from the salt marshes, ³  and the root of the broom tree was their food.

Then they sat down with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, yet no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his pain ¹  was very great. ² 

So Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite spoke up: ¹  “I am young, ²  but you are elderly; that is why I was fearful, ³  and afraid to explain ⁴  to you what I know.

People ¹  who had seen him will not see him again, and the place where he was will recognize him no longer.

because I was terrified ¹  of the great multitude, ²  and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I remained silent and would not go outdoors – ³ 

While this one was still speaking, ¹  another messenger arrived ²  and said, “The fire of God ³  has fallen from heaven ⁴  and has burned up the sheep and the servants – it has consumed them! And I – only I alone – escaped to tell you!”

While this one was still speaking another messenger arrived and said, “The Chaldeans ¹  formed three bands and made a raid ²  on the camels and carried them all away, and they killed the servants with the sword! ³  And I – only I alone – escaped to tell you!”

When ¹  the days of their feasting were finished, ²  Job would send ³  for them and sanctify ⁴  them; he would get up early ⁵  in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to ⁶  the number of them all. For Job thought, “Perhaps ⁷  my children ⁸  have sinned and cursed ⁹  God in their hearts.” This was Job’s customary practice.