בְּכ֣וֹר

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 בְּכ֣וֹר

   be-KHOR

   firstborn
2. phraseyour reading level🔊 בְּכ֣וֹר מָֽוֶת׃

   be-KHOR MA-vet

   firstborn death
3. clause🔊 יֹאכַ֥ל בַּ֝דָּ֗יו בְּכ֣וֹר מָֽוֶת׃

   yo-KHAL bad-DAV be-KHOR MA-vet

   he consumes or it consumes his limbs or his parts firstborn death
4. sentence🔊 יֹ֭אכַל בַּדֵּ֣י עוֹר֑וֹ יֹאכַ֥ל בַּ֝דָּ֗יו בְּכ֣וֹר מָֽוֶת׃

   yo-KHAL bad-DE O-ro yo-KHAL bad-DAV be-KHOR MA-vet

   he consumes or it consumes parts of his skin he consumes or it consumes his limbs or his parts firstborn death

Exegesis

The second clause reuses the same verb with baddav {בַּדָּיו | baddāyw} as the object, then appends bekhor mavet {בְּכוֹר מָוֶת | bəkhôr māweṯ} ‘firstborn of death’ as a climactic identification of the devouring force; the construct chain functions metaphorically, using “firstborn” to express preeminence and terror. English renders the parallelism with a semicolon and keeps the doubled verb to preserve the Hebrew escalation, while making the implicit agent explicit in the second line by treating “the firstborn of death” as the consuming power.

Root and etymology

consonants🔊 בכרbet–kaf–resh

“to be first, have priority”