Job 18:13
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It devours patches of his skin; the firstborn of death devours his limbs.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
In this chapter Bildad makes a second assault upon Job. In his first discourse (ch. 8) he had given him encouragement to hope that all should yet be well with him. But here there is not a word of that; he has grown more peevish, and is so far from being convinced by Job's reasonings that he is but more exasperated. I. He sharply reproves Job as haughty and passionate, and obstinate in his opinion (Job 18:1-4). II. He enlarges upon the doctrine he had before maintained, concerning the miser of wicked people and the ruin that attends them (v. 5-21). 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."
Open source ↗18:13 death devours: Isaiah later reversed the figure and saw the Lord as swallowing up death (Isa 25:8; see 1 Cor 15:54).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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Will it go down to the gates of Sheol? Will we go down together into the dust?”
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.
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!
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.
Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.
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.