Isaiah 28:18

THE MESSAGE

"Then you'll see that your precious life insurance policy wasn't worth the paper it was written on. Your careful precautions against death were a pack of illusions and lies. When the disaster happens, you'll be crushed by it. Every time disaster comes, you'll be in on it— disaster in the morning, disaster at night." Every report of disaster will send you cowering in terror. There will be no place where you can rest, nothing to hide under. God will rise to full stature, raging as he did long ago on Mount Perazim And in the valley of Gibeon against the Philistines. But this time it's against you. Hard to believe, but true. Not what you'd expect, but it's coming. Sober up, friends, and don't scoff. Scoffing will just make it worse. I've heard the orders issued for destruction, orders from God -of-the-Angel-Armies—ending up in an international disaster.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Your covenant with Death will be dissolved,and your agreement with Sheol will not last.When the overwhelming catastrophe passes through,you will be trampled.

Hebrew Names Version
Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with She'ol shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it.

King James Version
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.

English Standard Version
Then your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be beaten down by it.

New American Standard Bible
"Your covenant with death will be canceled, And your pact with Sheol will not stand; When the gushing flood passes through, Then you will become its trampling ground.

New Century Version
Your agreement with death will be erased; your contract with death will not help you. When terrible punishment comes, you will be crushed by it.

Amplified Bible
"Your covenant with death will be annulled, And your agreement with Sheol (the place of the dead) will not stand; When the overwhelming scourge passes through, Then you will become its trampling ground.

World English Bible
Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And your couenant with death shalbe disanulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand: when a scourge shall runne ouer and passe through, then shall ye be trode downe by it.

Legacy Standard Bible
Your covenant with death will be canceled,And your pact with Sheol will not stand;When the overflowing scourge passes through,Then you will become its trampling place.

Berean Standard Bible
Your 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.

Contemporary English Version
Your agreement with death and the world of the dead will be broken. Then angry, roaring waves will sweep over you.

Complete Jewish Bible
your covenant with death will be annulled, and your contract with Sh'ol will not stand. When the raging flood passes through, you will be trampled down by it.

Darby Translation
And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, ye shall be trodden down by it.

Easy-to-Read Version
Your agreement with death will be erased. Your contract with Sheol will not help you. "Someone will come and punish you. He will make you like the dirt he walks on.

George Lamsa Translation
And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it.

Good News Translation
The treaty you have made with death will be abolished, and your agreement with the world of the dead will be canceled. When disaster sweeps down, you will be overcome.

Lexham English Bible
And your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; you will become a trampling place for the overwhelming flood when it passes through.

Literal Translation
And your covenant with death shall be covered; and your vision with Sheol shall not rise up. When the overwhelming whip passes through, then you shall be for a trampling to it.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thus the appoyntmet that ye haue made wt death, shalbe done awaye, and the codicion that ye made with hell, shal not stode. When the greate destructio goeth thorow, it shal all to treade you, It shal take you quyte awaye before it.

American Standard Version
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.

Bible in Basic English
And the help you were looking for from death will come to nothing, and your agreement with the underworld will be broken; when the overflowing waters come through, then you will be overcome by them.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And your covenant with death shall be disannulled and your agreement with the nether-world shall not stand; when the scouring scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it,

King James Version (1611)
And your couenant with death shalbe disanulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the ouerflowing scourge shall passe thorough, then yee shalbe troden downe by it.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And thus the couenaunt that ye made with death, shalbe disanulled, and your agreement that ye made with hell shall not stand, yea when the sore plague goeth foorth, ye shalbe troden downe vnder it.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
except it also take away your covenant of death, and your trust in Hades shall by no means stand: if the rushing storm should come upon you, ye shall be beaten down by it.

English Revised Version
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.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and youre couenaunt with helle schal not stonde; whanne the scourge flowynge schal passe, ye schulen be to it in to defoulyng.

Update Bible Version
And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it.

Webster's Bible Translation
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.

New English Translation
Your treaty with death will be dissolved; your agreement with Sheol will not last. When the overwhelming judgment sweeps by, you will be overrun by it.

New King James Version
Your covenant with death will be annulled, And your agreement with Sheol will not stand; When the overflowing scourge passes through, Then you will be trampled down by it.

New Living Translation
I will cancel the bargain you made to cheat death, and I will overturn your deal to dodge the grave. When the terrible enemy sweeps through, you will be trampled into the ground.

New Life Bible
Your agreement with death will come to an end. Your agreement with the place of the dead will be stopped. When a flood of trouble passes through, you will be beaten down by it.

New Revised Standard
Then your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through you will be beaten down by it.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So shall be wiped out your covenant with death, And your vision with hades, not stand, - When the overflowing scourge, sweepeth past, then shall ye be thereby beaten down:

Douay-Rheims Bible
And your league with death shall be abolished, and your covenant with hell shall not stand: when the overflowing scourge shall pass, you shall be trodden down by it.

Revised Standard Version
Then your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through you will be beaten down by it.

Young's Literal Translation
And disannulled hath been your covenant with death, And your provision with Sheol doth not stand, An overflowing scourge, when it passeth over, Then ye have been to it for a treading-place.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Your covenant with death will be canceled, And your pact with Sheol will not stand; When the overwhelming scourge passes through, Then you become its trampling place.

Contextual Overview

¹⁴Now listen to God 's Message, you scoffers, you who rule this people in Jerusalem. You say, "We've taken out good life insurance. We've hedged all our bets, covered all our bases. No disaster can touch us. We've thought of everything. We're advised by the experts. We're set." ¹⁶But the Master, God , has something to say to this: "Watch closely. I'm laying a foundation in Zion, a solid granite foundation, squared and true. And this is the meaning of the stone: a trusting life won't topple. I'll make justice the measuring stick and righteousness the plumb line for the building. A hailstorm will knock down the shantytown of lies, and a flash flood will wash out the rubble. ¹⁸"Then you'll see that your precious life insurance policy wasn't worth the paper it was written on. Your careful precautions against death were a pack of illusions and lies. When the disaster happens, you'll be crushed by it. Every time disaster comes, you'll be in on it— disaster in the morning, disaster at night." Every report of disaster will send you cowering in terror. There will be no place where you can rest, nothing to hide under. God will rise to full stature, raging as he did long ago on Mount Perazim And in the valley of Gibeon against the Philistines. But this time it's against you. Hard to believe, but true. Not what you'd expect, but it's coming. Sober up, friends, and don't scoff. Scoffing will just make it worse. I've heard the orders issued for destruction, orders from God -of-the-Angel-Armies—ending up in an international disaster.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

your covenant: Isaiah 7:7, Isaiah 8:10, Jeremiah 44:28, Ezekiel 17:15, Zechariah 1:6

shall be disannulled: For kuppar Houbigant, Archbp. Secker, and Bp. Lowth, would read tuppar; but the former may well have the sense ascribed to it here, as it signifies in Chaldee and Syriac, abstersit, diluit, abolevit.

when: Isaiah 2:15, Isaiah 8:8, Jeremiah 47:2, Daniel 8:9-13, Daniel 9:26, Daniel 9:27, Daniel 11:40, Revelation 12:15, Revelation 17:15

trodden down by it: Heb. a treading down to it, Isaiah 28:3, Malachi 4:1-3

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 13:5 - prophet Job 40:8 - disannul Ecclesiastes 8:8 - neither Isaiah 5:5 - trodden down Isaiah 16:6 - but Isaiah 30:28 - an overflowing Isaiah 59:6 - webs Jeremiah 19:7 - I will make Lamentations 1:15 - trodden Galatians 3:17 - cannot

Cross-References

Genesis 22:3
Abraham got up early in the morning and saddled his donkey. He took two of his young servants and his son Isaac. He had split wood for the burnt offering. He set out for the place God had directed him. On the third day he looked up and saw the place in the distance. Abraham told his two young servants, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I are going over there to worship; then we'll come back to you."

Genesis 28:10
Jacob left Beersheba and went to Haran. He came to a certain place and camped for the night since the sun had set. He took one of the stones there, set it under his head and lay down to sleep. And he dreamed: A stairway was set on the ground and it reached all the way to the sky; angels of God were going up and going down on it.

Genesis 31:45
Jacob took a stone and set it upright as a pillar.

Genesis 35:14
Jacob set up a stone pillar on the spot where God had spoken with him. He poured a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil. Jacob dedicated the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel (God's-House).

Numbers 7:1
When Moses finished setting up The Dwelling, he anointed it and consecrated it along with all that went with it. At the same time he anointed and consecrated the Altar and its accessories.

2 Samuel 18:18
While alive, Absalom had erected for himself a pillar in the Valley of the King, "because," he said, "I have no son to carry on my name." He inscribed the pillar with his own name. To this day it is called "The Absalom Memorial."

Isaiah 19:19
On that Day, there will be a place of worship to God in the center of Egypt and a monument to God at its border. It will show how the God -of-the-Angel-Armies has helped the Egyptians. When they cry out in prayer to God because of oppressors, he'll send them help, a savior who will keep them safe and take care of them. God will openly show himself to the Egyptians and they'll get to know him on that Day. They'll worship him seriously with sacrifices and burnt offerings. They'll make vows and keep them. God will wound Egypt, first hit and then heal. Egypt will come back to God , and God will listen to their prayers and heal them, heal them from head to toe.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And your covenant with death shall be disannulled,.... Or, "be besmeared" x, or daubed over, as the ark was with pitch, Genesis 6:14 where the same word is used as here; so that it shall not be legible, as any writing that is blotted out by ink, or any other liquor, so that it cannot be read; in like manner this their covenant with death should be so obliterated, that the articles of it could not be made out, and so of no force; thus the Targum renders it,

"shall be made void;''

Genesis 6:14- ::

and your agreement with hell shall not stand; or "vision", or "provision" y; which they had made by compact, with the greatest care, caution, and foresight, to secure themselves from destruction, would be found insufficient. The Targum is,

"and our peace, which was with the destroyer, shall not stand;''

Genesis 6:14- ::

when the overflowing scourge shall pass through: the land of Judea and the city of Jerusalem; Genesis 6:14- ::

then shall ye be trodden down by it: though they flattered themselves it should not come near them, yet it would; and they would not be able to stand before it, but would be thrown down, and trampled upon by it as the mire of the streets; see Luke 21:24.

x וכפר "Heb. oblinetur", Piscator; "quasi pica illita tabulae literaeque foederis incrustentur, inducantur ac dispereant", Gusset. Comment. Ebr. p. 397. y וחזותכם "et visio vestra", Vatablus; "cautio vestra", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Heb. "visio", i.e. "provisio", Piscator.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And your covenant with death - (see the note at Isaiah 28:15).

Shall be disannulled - The word rendered ‘shall be disannulled,’ (וכפר v^ekupar 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 Isaiah 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.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 28:18. Your 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 Jeremiah 33:21, where the very same phrase is used. See Prelim. Dissert. p. l.