that there came a messenger to Iyov, and said, *The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them,
There came a messenger to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Yisra'el are after Avshalom.
It fell on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house,
and the Seva'im attacked, and took them away. Yes, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.*
Can you hold the wild ox in the furrow with his harness? Or will he till the valleys after you?
One runner will run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to show the king of Bavel that his city is taken on every quarter:
He who brought the news answered, Yisra'el is fled before the Pelishtim, and there has been also a great slaughter among the people, and your two sons also, Chofni and Pinechas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken.