While he was yet speaking a second messenger suddenly appears. In this manner the writer draws attention to the rapidity of the blows that are falling on Job. Repetition is used in verses 15-19 to highlight the recurring order of events. The concluding words of verse 15 are repeated at the end of verses 16, 17, 19; and the opening words of verse 16 are found again at the beginning of verses 17 and 18. For a similar repetition see Exodus 7.8–11.10, in which the king of Egypt reacts to the plagues. The translator must know if the repetition used by the author accomplishes the task of presenting successive events of a basically similar nature, or if there is a different device used in his language which does this. The patterns that are effective in Hebrew may not have the same effect in another language. It may be better in some languages to recast this clause to say, for example, “While the first messenger was still speaking…” or “Before that messenger finished telling Job what had happened….”
The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them: robbers carried out the first attack; the second blow is struck from heaven and destroys seven thousand sheep and all the herdsmen.
Fire of God can mean lightning. (See 1 Kgs 18.38, the contest between Yahweh and Baal on Mount Carmel; also Gen 19.24; Num 11.1; 2 Kgs 1.12.) Thunder is the “voice of God” in Psalm 29. New English Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, New Jerusalem Bible prefer to keep “fire,” while Good News Translation, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Bible en français courant have “lightning.” Fire of God may easily be misunderstood if translated literally. Therefore it is probably best to follow Good News Translation.
The next two verbs in verse 16, burned up and consumed, emphasize the total destruction. Good News Translation, which uses “lightning struck” in 16b, has “killed them all” in 16c. Consumed translates the Hebrew for “ate.” (See also 15.34; 20.26; 22.20; Num 16.35; 26.10.) Consumed is repetitive and adds no new information, and may be handled in some languages by the techniques used for indicating the completeness of an action.
The sheep and the servants is literally “the sheep and the young men,” the latter understood as in Good News Translation “shepherds.” In languages where sheep raising is unknown or where people do not look after domestic animals, it will sometimes be necessary to say, for example, “the lightning struck the sheep (using whatever term has been used in verse 3) and the workmen who were taking care of them.”
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .