Job 18:13
in Job 18It devours patches of his skin; the firstborn of death devours his limbs.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The members of his body shall be devoured, Yea, the first-born of death shall devour his members.
KJV
It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.
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This verse in Job 18
Commentary
11 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
It shall devour the strength of his skin - Margin, bars. The margin is a correct translation of the Hebrew. The word used (בדי badēy, construct with עורו ‛ôrô - his skin) means bars, staves, branches, and here denotes his limbs, members; or, more literally, the bones, as supports of the skin, or the human frame. The bones are regarded as the bars, or the framework, holding the other parts of the body in their place, and over which the skin is stretched.
This site's exposition
Terrors frighten him on every side
on Job 18:11-14
With "Terrors frighten him on every side" the poem moves from trap to pursuit, and the Hebrew behind "His strength is depleted" is hunger. The unit closes with "marched off to the king of terrors", which Jamieson, Fausset and Brown and Gill read as death in its terror.
This site's exposition
the firstborn of death devours his limbs
Barnes explains that the Hebrew word rendered patches of skin means bars or branches, here the limbs. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown call the firstborn of death a figure of poetic horror. Wesley says the title marks the worst kind of death.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
He calls the "soles of their feet" the products of their journeys, in order to say that the impious are not prosperous in their travels when they fall into "a violent ruin." But also their fruits of season, that is, their children, are insatiately consumed …
The Medieval Church2 voices
Let it devour the beauty of his skin; and let the firstborn death consume his arms. 'The beauty of his skin' is temporal glory, which whereas it is coveted as an object without us, is retained as a beauty on the skin. But by the title of 'arms' works are not unfitly set forth, in that the work of the body is done by the arms. And what is death but sin, which kills the soul to the interior life?
The goods of the body which hunger begins to weaken are totally consumed by death. The principal goods of the body are beauty and strength, and so he then says, "may his skin lose its beauty," because beauty regards exterior appearance, and "may the arms …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
First-born - A terrible kind of death. The first-born was the chief of his brethren, and therefore this title is given to things eminent in their kind.
In this he seems, all along, to have an eye to Job's complaints of the miserable condition he was in, that he was in the dark, bewildered, ensnared, terrified, and hastening out of the world. "This," says Bildad, "is the condition of a wicked man; and therefore thou art one." Second Address of Eliphaz.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
It shall devour the strength of his skin,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
UMBREIT has "he" for "it," that is, "in the rage of hunger he shall devour his own body"; or, "his own children" (La 4:10). Rather, "destruction" from Job 18:12 is nominative to "devour." strength--rather, "members" (literally, the "branches" of a tree). the first-born of death--a personification full of poetical horror.
It shall devour the strength of his skin - This may refer to the elephant, or to the rhinoceros, whose skin scarcely any dart can pierce: but in the case referred to above, the animal is taken in a pitfall, and then the first-born of death - a sudden and overwhelming stroke - deprives him of life. See the account of hunting the elephant in the East at the end of the chapter, Job 18:21 (note). The Chaldee has: “The strength of his skin shall devour his flesh; and the angel of death shall consume his children.”
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
He shall eat the branches of his body And he shall devour all the rest of his branches, viz. his sons and daughters.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
He shall be torn away from his wife Heb. מאהלו, lit. from his tent.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יֹ֭אכַל | yokhal | it consumes | H398 → | 810 times |
| בַּדֵּ֣י | badei | [the] parts of | H905 → | 200 times |
| עוֹר֑וֹ | oro | skin his | H5785 → | 99 times |
| יֹאכַ֥ל | yokhal | it consumes | H398 → | 810 times |
| בַּ֝דָּ֗יו | badav | parts his | H905 → | 200 times |
| בְּכ֣וֹר | bekhor | [the] firstborn of | H1060 → | 122 times |
| מָֽוֶת׃ | mavet | death | H4194 → | 156 times |
יֹ֭אכַלit consumes
yokhalH398 →810 times
בַּדֵּ֣י[the] parts of
badeiH905 →200 times
עוֹר֑וֹskin his
oroH5785 →99 times
יֹאכַ֥לit consumes
yokhalH398 →810 times
בַּ֝דָּ֗יוparts his
badavH905 →200 times
בְּכ֣וֹר[the] firstborn of
bekhorH1060 →122 times
מָֽוֶת׃death
mavetH4194 →156 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Revelation 6:8Then 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,…
it leads to
- Hosea 13:14
I will ransom them from the power of Sheol; I will redeem them from Death. Where, O Death, are your plagues? Where, O Sheol, is your sting? Compassion is hidden from My eyes.
- Jeremiah 15:2–3
If they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: ‘Those destined for death, to death; those destined for the sword, to the sword;…
- Revelation 1:18
the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades.
- Zechariah 6:3
the third white horses, and the fourth dappled horses—all of them strong.
- Ezekiel 14:13–21
“Son of man, if a land sins against Me by acting unfaithfully, and I stretch out My hand against it to cut off its supply of food, to send famine upon it, and to…
- Hosea 13:14
Through
Jonah 2:6To 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!
it leads to
- Psalms 30:3
O LORD, You pulled me up from Sheol; You spared me from descending into the Pit.
- Psalms 30:3
Through
Genesis 49:3Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.
it leads to
- Psalms 78:51
He struck all the firstborn of Egypt, the virility in the tents of Ham.
- Psalms 78:51
Through
Zechariah 14:12And 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…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 39:17–20
And as for you, son of man, this is what the Lord GOD says: Call out to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field: ‘Assemble and come together from all…
- Ezekiel 39:17–20
About Job
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XIV; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Olympiodorus of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON JOB 18:12-14 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.