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die Hiobsbotschaft* (-en)
   bad news, bad tidings*

Die Rezepte, die der britische Premier Gordon Brown seinem Land verordnet hatte, wirken nicht. Die Hiobsbotschaften kommen nun im Stundentakt.
The medicine that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had prescribed for his country isn’t working. The bad news now comes hourly.

Related Words:
die Hiobsnachricht bad news
die Hiobspost bad news (in the mail)
der Hiob (also Ijob, Bible) Job
das Buch Hiob the Book of Job (Bible)

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*This German term (lit., “Job’s message/news”) comes from the Biblical story in which Job suffers several calamities and loses his family and wealth in a test of his faith in God. Job’s last remaining servant comes and tells him the bad news. There is no English equivalent, but there is a tropical grass known as Job’s tears, and a person who gives someone false comfort while secretly aggravating the situation is called a “Job’s comforter.”

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