Isaiah 28:18
in Isaiah 28Your covenant with death will be dissolved, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be trampled by it.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
KJV
And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
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This verse in Isaiah 28
Commentary
8 notes on this verseYour covenant with death shall be disannulled “Your covenant with death shall be broken” - For כפר caphar, which seems not to belong to this place, the Chaldee reads תפר taphar, which is approved by Houbigant and Secker. See Jer 33:21, where the very same phrase is used. See Prelim. Dissert. p. l.
This site's exposition
Your covenant with death will be dissolved
on Isaiah 28:18-20
"Your covenant with death will be dissolved", and the scourge Judah thought she had escaped will trample her, sweeping through "morning after morning". To understand the message "will bring sheer terror". Verse 20 gives a proverb for the failed plan: "the bed is too short to stretch out on".
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verses 17-18). And I will put judgment in the balance, and justice in the measure: and hail will overthrow the hope of lies, and the covering waters will flood. And your covenant with death shall be abolished, and your pact with Hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge passes through, you shall be trampled.
The Medieval Church1 voice
647. And I will set. Here he excludes both of these remedies, and first, the first remedy, second, the second remedy: for the bed is straitened (Isa 28:20). Concerning the first, he does three things: first, he sets out the just judgment of exclusion: I …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
All this is confirmed by a comparison borrowed from the method which the husbandman takes with his ground and grain, according to which they must expect God would proceed with his people, whom he had lately called his threshing and the corn of his floor ( ch. xxi.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
And your covenant with death shall be disannulled,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
disannulled--obliterated, as letters traced on a waxen tablet are obliterated by passing the stylus over it. trodden down--passing from the metaphor in "scourge" to the thing meant, the army which treads down its enemies.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And your covenant with death - (see the note at Isa 28:15). Shall be disannulled - The word rendered ‘shall be disannulled,’ (וכפר vekupar from כפר kâphar), properly means “to cover, overlay;” then to pardon, forgive; then to make atonement, to expiate. It has the idea of blotting out, forgiving, and obliterating - because a writing in wax was obliterated or “covered” by passing the “stylus” over it. Hence, also, the idea of abolishing, or rendering nought, which is the idea here. “When the overflowing scourge” (see the note at Isa 28:15). Then ye shall be trodden down by it - There is in this verse a great intermingling of metaphor, not less than three figures being employed to denote the calamity. There is first the scourge, an instrument of punishment; there is then the idea of inundating waters or floods; then there is also the idea of a warrior or an invading army that treads down an enemy. All the images are designed to denote essentially the same thing, that the judgments of God would come upon the land, and that nothing in which they had trusted would constitute a refuge.
The words behind it
16 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְכֻפַּ֤ר | vekhupar | and it will be annulled | H3722 → | 102 times |
| בְּרִֽיתְכֶם֙ | beritekhem | covenant your | H1285 → | 284 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | with | H854 → | 929 times |
| מָ֔וֶת | mavet | death | H4194 → | 156 times |
| וְחָזוּתְכֶ֥ם | vechazutekhem | and agreement your | H2380 → | 5 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | with | H854 → | 929 times |
| שְׁא֖וֹל | sheol | Sheol | H7585 → | 66 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תָק֑וּם | takum | it will stand | H6965 → | 628 times |
| שׁ֤וֹט | shot | a scourge | H7752 → | 11 times |
| שׁוֹטֵף֙ | shotef | overflowing | H7857 → | 31 times |
| כִּ֣י | ki | if | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יַֽעֲבֹ֔ר | yaavor | it will pass by | H5674 → | 556 times |
| וִהְיִ֥יתֶם | vihyitem | and you will become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| ל֖וֹ | lo | for it | ||
| לְמִרְמָֽס׃ | lemirmas | <into> a trampling place | H4823 → | 7 times |
וְכֻפַּ֤רand it will be annulled
vekhuparH3722 →102 times
בְּרִֽיתְכֶם֙covenant your
beritekhemH1285 →284 times
אֶת־with
ʾet-H854 →929 times
מָ֔וֶתdeath
mavetH4194 →156 times
וְחָזוּתְכֶ֥םand agreement your
vechazutekhemH2380 →5 times
אֶת־with
ʾet-H854 →929 times
שְׁא֖וֹלSheol
sheolH7585 →66 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תָק֑וּםit will stand
takumH6965 →628 times
שׁ֤וֹטa scourge
shotH7752 →11 times
שׁוֹטֵף֙overflowing
shotefH7857 →31 times
כִּ֣יif
kiH3588 →4482 times
יַֽעֲבֹ֔רit will pass by
yaavorH5674 →556 times
וִהְיִ֥יתֶםand you will become
vihyitemH1961 →3559 times
ל֖וֹfor it
lo
לְמִרְמָֽס׃<into> a trampling place
lemirmasH4823 →7 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 8:10Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted; state a proposal, but it will not happen. For God is with us.”
it leads to
- Lamentations 3:37
Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 21:30
There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the LORD.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Romans 8:31
What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
- Job 5:12
He thwarts the schemes of the crafty, so that their hands find no success.
- Psalms 46:11
The LORD of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
- Lamentations 3:37
Through
Isaiah 7:7But this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘It will not arise; it will not happen.
it leads to
- Isaiah 8:10
Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted; state a proposal, but it will not happen. For God is with us.”
- Isaiah 46:10–11
I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’
- Psalms 33:11
The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the purposes of His heart to all generations.
- Isaiah 8:10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.