It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength. Umbreit has 'he' for "it" - i:e., in the rage of hunger he shall devour his own body:' or, his own children (Lamentations 4:10). Rather, 'destruction,' from the last verse, or else 'the first-born of death,' is nominative to "devour."
Strength, х badeey (H905)] - rather, 'members' (literally, the branches of a tree).
Of his skin - i:e., of his body purposely used with allusion to Job's disease of the skin elephantiasis (Job 19:26). "Devour" is twice used, to mark that the sinner is not slain at one moment, but is gradually worn out by disease.
The first-born of death - a personification full of poetical horror. The first-born son held the chief place (Genesis 49:3); so here the chiefest (most deadly) disease that death has ever engendered (Isaiah 14:30, "first-born of the poor" - the poorest). The Arabs call fever 'daughter of death.'