# these rights

"these things that I deserve"

# so something might be done for me

"so you will do something for me" 

# It would be better for me to die than—No one will make my boast empty!

Paul seems to have started a new sentence before finishing the first one. Some modern translations read, "It would be better for me to die than to have someone deprive me of this boast."

# It would be better for me to

"I would rather." Paul is speaking of what he desires, not necessarily of what God thinks is best.

# make my boast empty

"take away this opportunity I have to boast" or "make it so I have nothing to boast about"