Isaiah 28:18 (KJV)

What does Isaiah 28:18 mean?

Isaiah 28:18 says that the people addressed cannot escape disaster through an imagined deal with death. God declares that their supposed protection will fail, and that the disaster they expected to avoid will overwhelm them.

The speaker is God, addressing Jerusalem’s rulers through Isaiah. The “overflowing scourge” pictures a destructive force sweeping through like a flood. The rulers will be “trodden down” under its force rather than sheltered from it.

The Hebrew behind Isaiah 28:18

• “hell” — שְׁאוֹל (sheʾol): This Hebrew word refers to the realm of the dead. In Isaiah 28:18, the phrase “agreement with hell” goes with the picture of a bargain meant to keep death away.
• “disannulled” — כָּפַר (kaphar): The word here carries the sense of being wiped away or canceled. The rulers’ supposed pact will be removed, rather than honored.

Why Isaiah 28:18 matters

• The passage presents the pact as the rulers’ claim, not as a promise from God. In verse 15, they boast that they have made an agreement with death and will be safe when disaster passes through.
• The threat is pictured as something that reaches the rulers themselves. Verse 18 says they will be “trodden down by it,” directly answering their claim that the scourge will not reach them.
• The wider passage links their false security with deceptive speech. Verse 15 says they have made lies their refuge, while verse 17 pictures justice sweeping away that refuge.