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While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house:
Job 1:18 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
  • BSB While he was still speaking, another messenger came and reported: “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
  • NKJV While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
  • NASB While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
  • NLT While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: “Your sons and daughters were feasting in their oldest brother’s home.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

A final messenger comes while the others are still speaking. The worst loss is about to be announced.

Overview

The breathless overlap of messengers conveys disaster piling on disaster without pause. This last report concerns not property but Job's children, gathered at their eldest brother's feast. The verse heightens the dread before the climactic blow to Job's family.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 15

  • Job 1:4And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
  • Job 1:13And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house:
  • Job 27:14If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
  • 2 Sam 13:28Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, Mark ye now when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine, and when I say unto you, Smite Amnon; then kill him, fear not: have not I commanded you? be courageous, and be valiant.
  • Job 23:2Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
  • Ps 34:19Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.
  • Job 6:2–3Oh that my grief were throughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together!
  • Isa 28:19From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
  • Job 8:4If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression;
  • Jer 51:31One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at one end,
  • Amos 4:6–11And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
  • Eccl 9:2All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
  • Lam 1:12Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
  • Job 19:9–10He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
  • Job 16:14He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth upon me like a giant.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Job 1:18YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.

How Job 1:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.