and the Sabeans attacked and swooped down on them and took away the animals. They also 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, “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.”

“But God saves [the innocent] from the sword of the mouth of the devious,
And the poor from the hand of the mighty.

“In famine He will redeem you from death,
And in war from the power of the sword.

“He does not believe that he will return out of the darkness [for fear of being murdered],
And he is destined for the sword [of God’s vengeance].

“Then beware and be afraid of the sword [of divine vengeance] for yourselves,
For wrathful are the punishments of that sword,
So that you may know there is judgment.”

“Though his children are many, they are destined for the sword;
And his descendants will not have sufficient bread.

He holds back his soul from the pit [of destruction],
And his life from passing over into Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead).

“But if they do not hear and obey, they will die by the sword [of God’s destructive judgments]
And they will die [in ignorance] without [true] knowledge.

“He laughs at fear and is not dismayed;
And [in battle] he does not turn back from the sword.

“He is the first [in magnitude and power] of the works of God;
[Only] He who made him can bring near His sword [to master him].

“The sword that reaches him cannot avail,
Nor [does] the spear, the dart, or the javelin.