I. Name

Though the deity Mot (‘Death’) occurs frequently in Canaanite and Israelite lore, the expression bĕkôr māwet (translated either ‘First Born of Death’ or ‘First Born Death’) occurs only in Job 18.13 in a context having to do with death and disease.

The Hebrew term bĕkôr (fem bĕkîrâ) clearly refers to the first-born (human or animal) as does the majority of cognate terms (cf. Aram. bûkrāʾ, Ar. bikr, Eth. bakwr, OSA bkr, Ug. bkr). In contrast, the Akk. cognates bukru (‘son, child, offspring’) and bu…