Job 18:13
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.
American King James Version (AKJV)
It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.
American Standard Version (ASV)
The members of his body shall be devoured, Yea , the first-born of death shall devour his members.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
His skin is wasted by disease, and his body is food for the worst of diseases.
Webster's Revision
It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the first-born of death shall devour his strength.
World English Bible
The members of his body shall be devoured. The firstborn of death shall devour his members.
English Revised Version (ERV)
It shall devour the members of his body, yea, the firstborn of death shall devour his members.
Clarke's Job 18:13 Bible Commentary
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."
Barnes's Job 18:13 Bible Commentary
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. The word "it" here refers to the "first-born of death" in the other hemistich of the verse; and the meaning is, that the strength of his body shal be entirely exhausted.
The first-born of death - The "first-born" is usually spoken of as distinguished for vigor and strength; Genesis 49:3, "Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the beginning of my strength;" and the idea conveyed here by the "first-born of death" is the most fearful and destructive disease that death has ever engendered; compare Milton's description of the progeny of sin, in Paradise Los. Diseases are called "the sons or children of death" by the Arabs, (see Schultens in loc.,) as being begotten by it.
Wesley's Job 18:13 Bible Commentary
18:13 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.