By disease his skin is consumed: the Revised Standard Version footnote gives the literal Hebrew, “it consumes the limbs of his skin.” Revised Standard Version modifies the Hebrew text by changing several vowels and one consonant. This modification is followed by New English Bible and New Jerusalem Bible. The ancient versions are in total disagreement among themselves: the Septuagint has “Let the branches of his feet be eaten,” Syriac “His cities will be swallowed up by force,” Vulgate “Let it devour the beauty of his skin,” Targum “It will devour the linen garments which cover his skin.” Hebrew Old Testament Text Project evaluates “it consumes” as a “B” reading and “the limbs of his skin” as a “C” reading, and proposes three interpretations: (1) “He (death’s firstborn son from line b) consumes his limbs”; (2) “It (calamity from verse 12) consumes the members of his body”; and (3) “It or he consumes the skin of his limbs” (meaning either calamity from verse 12 or death’s firstborn from line b). From all of this it can be seen how the Hebrew verb does not indicate which is the subject or the object. As a result interpreters are forced to try out the possibilities and select something that fits the context. Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation follow the second suggestion of Hebrew Old Testament Text Project and take the subject of line a to be disease, based on “calamity” or “disaster” in verse 12. Here Good News Translation translates the word for skin as “body,” and this is more satisfactory than skin, which can be interpreted as a part representing the whole.

The first-born of death consumes his limbs: in the light of the discussion above, this line is fairly clear. Nevertheless, great differences of opinion center on the interpretation of the first-born of death. However, Bildad is speaking to a man whose body is racked with disease and pain, and in this context first-born of death is best understood as parallel with disease in line a, but going beyond disease to terrible death. Good News Translation expresses the image of first-born of death as “deadly disease” and makes it serve as the subject of both lines; this provides an adequate model for translators. Verse 13 may also be rendered, for example, “A disease causes his body to decay, and a deadly illness eats his limbs,” “He is destroyed by disease, and his arms and legs are eaten by death,” or “Sickness gnaws like a rat at his skin, and a deadly disease eats away his arms and legs.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .