While he was still speaking, another [messenger] also came and said, “The fire of God (lightning) has fallen from the heavens and has burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

While he was still speaking, another [messenger] also came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three bands and made a raid on the camels and have taken them away and have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

While he was still speaking, another [messenger] also came and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,

Whereas another dies with a bitter soul,
Never even tasting pleasure or good fortune.

Then let me plant and [let] another eat [from the results of my labor],
And let my crops be uprooted and ruined.

Let my wife grind [meal, like a bond slave] for another [man],
And let others kneel down over her.

“One is so near to another
That no air can come between them.

“They are joined one to another;
They stick together and cannot be separated.