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Selected Verse: Job 1:17 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Job 1:17	Strong Concordance	While he was yet speaking [01696], there came [0935] also another, and said [0559], The Chaldeans [03778] made out [07760] three [07969] bands [07218], and fell [06584] upon the camels [01581], and have carried them away [03947], yea, and slain [05221] the servants [05288] with the edge [06310] of the sword [02719]; and I only am escaped [04422] alone to tell [05046] thee.
	King James	While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
Chaldeans--not merely robbers as the Sabeans; but experienced in war, as is implied by "they set in array three bands" (Hab 1:6-8). RAWLINSON distinguishes three periods: 1. When their seat of empire was in the south, towards the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates. The Chaldean period, from 2300 B.C. to 1500 B.C. In this period was Chedorlaomer (Gen 14:1), the Kudur of Hur or Ur of the Chaldees, in the Assyrian inscriptions, and the conqueror of Syria. 2. From 1500 to 625 B.C., the Assyrian period. 3. From 625 to 538 B.C. (when Cyrus the Persian took Babylon), the Babylonian period. "Chaldees" in Hebrew--Chasaim. They were akin, perhaps, to the Hebrews, as Abraham's sojourn in Ur, and the name "Chesed," a nephew of Abraham, imply. The three bands were probably in order to attack the three separate thousands of Job's camels (Job 1:3).

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

Chaldeans--not merely robbers as the Sabeans; but experienced in war, as is implied by "they set in array three bands" (Hab 1:6-8). RAWLINSON distinguishes three periods: 1. When their seat of empire was in the south, towards the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates. The Chaldean period, from 2300 B.C. to 1500 B.C. In this period was Chedorlaomer (Gen 14:1), the Kudur of Hur or Ur of the Chaldees, in the Assyrian inscriptions, and the conqueror of Syria. 2. From 1500 to 625 B.C., the Assyrian period. 3. From 625 to 538 B.C. (when Cyrus the Persian took Babylon), the Babylonian period. "Chaldees" in Hebrew--Chasaim. They were akin, perhaps, to the Hebrews, as Abraham's sojourn in Ur, and the name "Chesed," a nephew of Abraham, imply. The three bands were probably in order to attack the three separate thousands of Job's camels (Job 1:3).

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
The Chaldeans - The Septuagint translates this, αἱ ἱππεῖς hai hippeis), "the horsemen." Why they thus expressed it is unknown. It may be possible that the Chaldeans were supposed to be distinguished as horsemen, and were principally known as such in their predatory excursions. But it is impossible to account for all the changes made by the Septuagint in the text. Tho Syriac and the Chaldee render it correctly, "Chaldeans." The Chaldeans (Hebrew כשׂדים kaśdı̂ym) were the ancient inhabitants of Babylonia. According to Vitringa (Commentary in Isa. tom. i. p. 412, c. xiii. 19), Gesenius (Commentary zu Isa 23:13), and Rosenmailer (Bib. Geog. 1, 2, p. 36ff), the Chaldees or Casdim were a warlike people who orignally inhabited the Carduchian mountains, north of Assyria, and the northern part of Mesopotamia. According to Xenophon (Cyrop. iii. 2, 7) the Chaldees dwelt in the mountains adjacent to Armenia and they were found in the same region in the campaign of the younger Cyrus, and the retreat of the ten thousand Greeks. Xen. Anaba. iv. 3, 4; v. 5, 9; viii. 8, 14. They were allied to the Hebrews, as appears from Gen 22:22, where כשׂד keśed (whence "Kasdim") the ancestor of the people is mentioned as a son of Nabor, and was consequently the nephew of Abraham. And further, Abraham himself emigrated to Canaan from Ur of the Chaldees כשׂדים אוּר 'ûr kaśdı̂ym, "Ur of the Kasdim"), Gen 11:28; and in Judith 5:6, the Hebrews themselves are said to be descended from the Chaldeans. The region around the river Chaboras, in the northern part of Mesopotamia, is called by Ezekiel Eze 1:3 "the land of the Chaldeans;" Jeremiah Jer 5:15 calls them "an ancient nation;" see the notes at Isa 23:13. The Chaldeans were a fierce and warlike people, and when they were subdued by the Assyrians, a portion of them appear to have been placed in Babylon to ward off the incursions of the neighboring Arabians. In time "they" gained the ascendency over their Assyrian masters, and grew into the mighty empire of Chaldea or Babylonia. A part of them, however, appear to have remained in their ancient country, and enjoyed under the Persians some degree of liberty. Gesenius supposes that the Kurds who have inhabited those regions, at least since the middle ages, are probably the descendants of that people. - A very vivid and graphic description of the Chaldeans is given by the prophet Habakkuk, which will serve to illustrate the passage before us, and show that they retained until his times the predatory and fierce character which they had in the days of Job; Job 1:6-11 : For lo I raise up the Chaldeans, A bitter and hasty nation, Which marches far and wide in the earth. To possess the dwellings which are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful, Their judgments proceed only from themselves. Swifter titan leopards are their horses, And fiercer than the evening wolves. Their horsemen prance proudly around; And their horsemen shall come from afar and fly, Like the eagle when he pounces on his prey. They all shall come for violence, In troops their glance is ever forward! They gather captives like the sand! And they scoff at kings, And princes are a scorn unto them. They deride every strong hold; They cast up mounds of - earth and take it. This warlike people ultimately obtained the ascendency in the Assyrian empire. About the year 597 B.C. Nabopolassar, a viceroy in Babylon, made himself independent of Assyria, contracted an alliance with Cyaxares, king of Media, and with his aid subdued Nineveh, and the whole of Assyria. From that time the Babylonian empire rose, and the history of the Chaldeans becomes the history of Babylon. - "Rob. Calmet." In the time of Job, however, they were a predatory race that seem to have wandered far for the sake of plunder. They came from the North, or the East, as the Sabeans came from the South. Made out three bands - literally, "three heads." That is, they divided tbemselves, for the sake of plunder, into three parties. Perhaps the three thousand camels of Job Job 1:3 occupied three places remote from each other, and the object of the speaker is to say that the whole were taken. And fell upon the camels - Margin, "And rushed." The word is different from that which in Job 1:15 is rendered "fell." The word used here פשׁט pâshaṭ means to spread out, to expand. It is spoken of hostile troops, Ch1 14:9, Ch1 14:13; of locusts which spread over a country, Nah 3:15; and of an army or company of marauders. Jdg 9:33, Jdg 9:44; Sa1 27:8. This is its sense here.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

The Chaldeans - The Septuagint translates this, αἱ ἱππεῖς hai hippeis), "the horsemen." Why they thus expressed it is unknown. It may be possible that the Chaldeans were supposed to be distinguished as horsemen, and were principally known as such in their predatory excursions. But it is impossible to account for all the changes made by the Septuagint in the text. Tho Syriac and the Chaldee render it correctly, "Chaldeans." The Chaldeans (Hebrew כשׂדים kaśdı̂ym) were the ancient inhabitants of Babylonia. According to Vitringa (Commentary in Isa. tom. i. p. 412, c. xiii. 19), Gesenius (Commentary zu Isa 23:13), and Rosenmailer (Bib. Geog. 1, 2, p. 36ff), the Chaldees or Casdim were a warlike people who orignally inhabited the Carduchian mountains, north of Assyria, and the northern part of Mesopotamia. According to Xenophon (Cyrop. iii. 2, 7) the Chaldees dwelt in the mountains adjacent to Armenia and they were found in the same region in the campaign of the younger Cyrus, and the retreat of the ten thousand Greeks. Xen. Anaba. iv. 3, 4; v. 5, 9; viii. 8, 14.

They were allied to the Hebrews, as appears from Gen 22:22, where כשׂד keśed (whence "Kasdim") the ancestor of the people is mentioned as a son of Nabor, and was consequently the nephew of Abraham. And further, Abraham himself emigrated to Canaan from Ur of the Chaldees כשׂדים אוּר 'ûr kaśdı̂ym, "Ur of the Kasdim"), Gen 11:28; and in Judith 5:6, the Hebrews themselves are said to be descended from the Chaldeans. The region around the river Chaboras, in the northern part of Mesopotamia, is called by Ezekiel Eze 1:3 "the land of the Chaldeans;" Jeremiah Jer 5:15 calls them "an ancient nation;" see the notes at Isa 23:13. The Chaldeans were a fierce and warlike people, and when they were subdued by the Assyrians, a portion of them appear to have been placed in Babylon to ward off the incursions of the neighboring Arabians. In time "they" gained the ascendency over their Assyrian masters, and grew into the mighty empire of Chaldea or Babylonia. A part of them, however, appear to have remained in their ancient country, and enjoyed under the Persians some degree of liberty. Gesenius supposes that the Kurds who have inhabited those regions, at least since the middle ages, are probably the descendants of that people. - A very vivid and graphic description of the Chaldeans is given by the prophet Habakkuk, which will serve to illustrate the passage before us, and show that they retained until his times the predatory and fierce character which they had in the days of Job; Job 1:6-11 :

For lo I raise up the Chaldeans,

A bitter and hasty nation,

Which marches far and wide in the earth.

To possess the dwellings which are not theirs.

They are terrible and dreadful,

Their judgments proceed only from themselves.

Swifter titan leopards are their horses,

And fiercer than the evening wolves.

Their horsemen prance proudly around;

And their horsemen shall come from afar and fly,

Like the eagle when he pounces on his prey.

They all shall come for violence,

In troops their glance is ever forward!

They gather captives like the sand!

And they scoff at kings,

And princes are a scorn unto them.

They deride every strong hold;

They cast up mounds of - earth and take it.

This warlike people ultimately obtained the ascendency in the Assyrian empire. About the year 597 B.C. Nabopolassar, a viceroy in Babylon, made himself independent of Assyria, contracted an alliance with Cyaxares, king of Media, and with his aid subdued Nineveh, and the whole of Assyria. From that time the Babylonian empire rose, and the history of the Chaldeans becomes the history of Babylon. - "Rob. Calmet." In the time of Job, however, they were a predatory race that seem to have wandered far for the sake of plunder. They came from the North, or the East, as the Sabeans came from the South.

Made out three bands - literally, "three heads." That is, they divided tbemselves, for the sake of plunder, into three parties. Perhaps the three thousand camels of Job Job 1:3 occupied three places remote from each other, and the object of the speaker is to say that the whole were taken.

And fell upon the camels - Margin, "And rushed." The word is different from that which in Job 1:15 is rendered "fell." The word used here פשׁט pâshaṭ means to spread out, to expand. It is spoken of hostile troops, Ch1 14:9, Ch1 14:13; of locusts which spread over a country, Nah 3:15; and of an army or company of marauders. Jdg 9:33, Jdg 9:44; Sa1 27:8. This is its sense here.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
The Third Messenger: 17 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans ranged themselves in three bands, and rushed upon the camels, and carried them away, and slew the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Without any authority, Ewald sees in this mention of the Chaldeans an indication of the composition of the book in the seventh century b.c., when the Chaldeans under Nabopolassar began to inherit the Assyrian power. Following Ewald, Renan observes that the Chaldeans first appear as such marauders about the time of Uzziah. But in Genesis we find mention of early Semitic Chaldeans among the mountain ranges lying to the north of Assyria and Mesopotamia; and later, Nahor Chaldeans of Mesopotamia, whose existence is traced back to the patriarchal times (vid., Genesis, p. 422), (Note: This reference is to Delitzsch's Commentar ber die Genesis, 1860, a separate work from the Keil and Delitzsch series. - Tr.) and who were powerful enough at any time to make a raid into Idumaea. To make an attack divided into several ראשׁים, heads, multitudes, bands (two - Gen. Job 14:15; three - Jdg 7:16, Sa1 11:11; or four - Judg. Job 9:34), is an ancient military stratagem; and פּשׁט, e.g., Jdg 9:33, is the proper word for attacks of such bands, either for plunder or revenge. In לפי־חרב, at the edge of the sword, l'epe, ל is like the usual acc. of manner.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Chaldeans - Who also lived upon spoil, as Xenephon and others observe.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
The Chaldeans made out three bands - The Chaldeans inhabited each side of the Euphrates near to Babylon, which was their capital. They were also mixed with the wandering Arabs, and lived like them on rapine. They were the descendants of Chesed, son of Nahor and brother of Huz, from whom they had their name Casdim, which we translate Chaldeans. They divided themselves into three bands, in order the more speedily and effectually to encompass, collect, and drive off the three thousand camels: probably they mounted the camels and rode off.

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³ His substance [04735] also was seven [07651] thousand [0505] sheep [06629], and three [07969] thousand [0505] camels [01581], and five [02568] hundred [03967] yoke [06776] of oxen [01241], and five [02568] hundred [03967] she asses [0860], and a very [03966] great [07227] household [05657]; so that this man [0376] was the greatest [01419] of all the men [01121] of the east [06924].

¹ And it came to pass in the days [03117] of Amraphel [0569] king [04428] of Shinar [08152], Arioch [0746] king [04428] of Ellasar [0495], Chedorlaomer [03540] king [04428] of Elam [05867], and Tidal [08413] king [04428] of nations [01471];

⁶ For, lo, I raise up [06965] the Chaldeans [03778], that bitter [04751] and hasty [04116] nation [01471], which shall march [01980] through the breadth [04800] of the land [0776], to possess [03423] the dwellingplaces [04908] that are not theirs.
⁷ They are terrible [0366] and dreadful [03372]: their judgment [04941] and their dignity [07613] shall proceed [03318] of themselves.
⁸ Their horses [05483] also are swifter [07043] than the leopards [05246], and are more fierce [02300] than the evening [06153] wolves [02061]: and their horsemen [06571] shall spread [06335] themselves, and their horsemen [06571] shall come [0935] from far [07350]; they shall fly [05774] as the eagle [05404] that hasteth [02363] to eat [0398].

⁸ And David [01732] and his men [0582] went up [05927], and invaded [06584] the Geshurites [01651], and the Gezrites [01511], and the Amalekites [06003]: for those [02007] nations were of old [05769] the inhabitants [03427] of the land [0776], as thou goest [0935] to Shur [07793], even unto the land [0776] of Egypt [04714].

⁴⁴ And Abimelech [040], and the company [07218] that was with him, rushed forward [06584], and stood [05975] in the entering [06607] of the gate [08179] of the city [05892]: and the two [08147] other companies [07218] ran upon [06584] all the people that were in the fields [07704], and slew [05221] them.

³³ And it shall be, that in the morning [01242], as soon as the sun [08121] is up [02224], thou shalt rise early [07925], and set [06584] upon the city [05892]: and, behold, when he and the people [05971] that is with him come out [03318] against thee, then mayest thou do [06213] to them as thou [03027] shalt find occasion [04672].

¹⁵ There shall the fire [0784] devour [0398] thee; the sword [02719] shall cut thee off [03772], it shall eat thee up [0398] like the cankerworm [03218]: make thyself many [03513] as the cankerworm [03218], make thyself many [03513] as the locusts [0697].

¹³ And the Philistines [06430] yet again [03254] spread themselves abroad [06584] in the valley [06010].

⁹ And the Philistines [06430] came [0935] and spread [06584] themselves in the valley [06010] of Rephaim [07497].

¹⁵ And the Sabeans [07614] fell [05307] upon them, and took them away [03947]; yea, they have slain [05221] the servants [05288] with the edge [06310] of the sword [02719]; and I only am escaped [04422] alone to tell [05046] thee.

⁶ Now there was a day [03117] when the sons [01121] of God [0430] came [0935] to present [03320] themselves before the LORD [03068], and Satan [07854] came [0935] also among [08432] them.
⁷ And the LORD [03068] said [0559] unto Satan [07854], Whence [0370] comest [0935] thou? Then Satan [07854] answered [06030] the LORD [03068], and said [0559], From going to and fro [07751] in the earth [0776], and from walking up and down [01980] in it.
⁸ And the LORD [03068] said [0559] unto Satan [07854], Hast thou considered [07760] [03820] my servant [05650] Job [0347], that there is none like him in the earth [0776], a perfect [08535] and an upright [03477] man [0376], one that feareth [03373] God [0430], and escheweth [05493] evil [07451]?
⁹ Then Satan [07854] answered [06030] the LORD [03068], and said [0559], Doth Job [0347] fear [03372] God [0430] for nought [02600]?
¹⁰ Hast not thou made an hedge [07753] about him, and about [01157] his house [01004], and about all that he hath on every side [05439]? thou hast blessed [01288] the work [04639] of his hands [03027], and his substance [04735] is increased [06555] in the land [0776].
¹¹ But [0199] put forth [07971] thine hand [03027] now, and touch [05060] all that he hath, and he will curse [01288] [03808] thee to thy face [06440].

¹³ Behold the land [0776] of the Chaldeans [03778]; this people [05971] was not, till the Assyrian [0804] founded [03245] it for them that dwell in the wilderness [06728]: they set up [06965] the towers [0971] thereof, they raised up [06209] the palaces [0759] thereof; and he brought [07760] it to ruin [04654].

¹⁵ Lo, I will bring [0935] a nation [01471] upon you from far [04801], O house [01004] of Israel [03478], saith [05002] the LORD [03068]: it is a mighty [0386] nation [01471], it is an ancient [05769] nation [01471], a nation [01471] whose language [03956] thou knowest [03045] not, neither understandest [08085] what they say [01696].

³ The word [01697] of the LORD [03068] came expressly unto Ezekiel [03168] the priest [03548], the son [01121] of Buzi [0941], in the land [0776] of the Chaldeans [03778] by the river [05104] Chebar [03529]; and the hand [03027] of the LORD [03068] was there upon him.

²⁸ And Haran [02039] died [04191] before [06440] his father [01] Terah [08646] in the land [0776] of his nativity [04138], in Ur [0218] of the Chaldees [03778].

²² And Chesed [03777], and Hazo [02375], and Pildash [06394], and Jidlaph [03044], and Bethuel [01328].

³⁴ Let him take [05493] his rod [07626] away [05493] from me, and let not his fear [0367] terrify [01204] me:

¹¹ And it was so on the morrow [04283], that Saul [07586] put [07760] the people [05971] in three [07969] companies [07218]; and they came [0935] into the midst [08432] of the host [04264] in the morning [01242] watch [0821], and slew [05221] the Ammonites [05983] until the heat [02527] of the day [03117]: and it came to pass, that they which remained [07604] were scattered [06327], so that two [08147] of them were not left [07604] together [03162].

¹⁶ And he divided [02673] the three [07969] hundred [03967] men [0376] into three [07969] companies [07218], and he put [05414] a trumpet [07782] in every man's hand [03027], with empty [07386] pitchers [03537], and lamps [03940] within [08432] the pitchers [03537].

¹⁵ Thou shalt call [07121], and I will answer [06030] thee: thou wilt have a desire [03700] to the work [04639] of thine hands [03027].