Bible Strands
Job 18:13
It devours patches of his skin; the firstborn of death devours his limbs.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Bildad addresses Job, describing the inevitable destruction awaiting a wicked man. The passage follows a declaration that calamity lies in wait beside him and precedes his removal from safety to face the king of terrors.
The words — יֹאכַל (yo.khal) translates literally as "it consumes," while בְּכוֹר מָוֶת (be.khor Ma.vet) means "the firstborn of death."
The thread — The phrase "firstborn of death" echoes the primacy motif in Genesis 49:3 and the descent to Sheol in Job 17:16, while Isaiah 14:30 contrasts this fate with the safety of the poor.
Why it lands — The text describes physical decay as the direct work of death's firstborn agent, demanding recognition of mortality's inescapable grip.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.
Cross-references
- Genesis 49:3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.
- Job 17:16 Will it go down to the gates of Sheol? Will we go down together into the dust?”
- Isaiah 14:30 Then the firstborn of the poor will find pasture, and the needy will lie down in safety, but I will kill your root by famine, and your remnant will be slain.
- Jonah 2:6 To the roots of the mountains I descended; the earth beneath me barred me in forever! But You raised my life from the pit, O LORD my God!
- Zechariah 14:12 And this will be the plague with which the LORD strikes all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
- Revelation 6:8 Then I looked and saw a pale green horse. Its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed close behind. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill by sword, by famine, by plague, and by the beasts of the earth.