Job 1:15

and the Sabeans ¹  swooped down ²  and carried them all away, and they killed ³  the servants with the sword! ⁴  And I – only I alone ⁵  – escaped to tell you!”

and the Sabeans attacked and carried them off. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"

and the Sabeans attacked and took them. They also slew the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

when the Sabeans raided us. They stole all the animals and killed all the farmhands. I am the only one who escaped to tell you."

when Sabeans attacked. They stole the animals and killed the field hands. I'm the only one to get out alive and tell you what happened."

And the men of Sheba came against them and took them away, putting the young men to the sword, and I was the only one who got away safe to give you the news.

and the Sabeans fell on them and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you."

"when the Sabeans raided them and took them away––indeed they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!"

and the Sabeans ¹  swooped down ²  and carried them all away, and they killed ³  the servants with the sword! ⁴  And I – only I alone ⁵  – escaped to tell you!”

¹ tn The LXX has “the spoilers spoiled them” instead of “the Sabeans swooped down.” The translators might have connected the word to שְָׁבָה (shavah, “to take captive”) rather than שְׁבָא (shÿva’, “Sabeans”), or they may have understood the name as general reference to all types of Bedouin invaders from southern Arabia (HALOT 1381 s.v. שְׁבָא 2.c).

sn The name “Sheba” is used to represent its inhabitants, or some of them. The verb is feminine because the name is a place name. The Sabeans were a tribe from the Arabian peninsula. They were traders mostly (6:19). The raid came from the south, suggesting that this band of Sabeans were near Edom. The time of the attack seems to be winter since the oxen were plowing.

² tn The Hebrew is simply “fell” (from נָפַל, nafal). To “fall upon” something in war means to attack quickly and suddenly.

³ sn Job’s servants were probably armed and gave resistance, which would be the normal case in that time. This was probably why they were “killed with the sword.”

⁴ tn Heb “the edge/mouth of the sword”; see T. J. Meek, “Archaeology and a Point of Hebrew Syntax,” BASOR 122 (1951): 31-33.

⁵ tn The pleonasms in the verse emphasize the emotional excitement of the messenger.