13. 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.
The first-born son held the chief place
(Ge 49:3);
so here the chiefest (most deadly) disease that death has ever
engendered
(Isa 14:30;
"first-born of the poor"--the poorest). The Arabs call fever, "daughter
of death."
JFB.
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