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Isaiah 28 · a question people ask

"We have made a covenant with death" (28:15). What was the covenant with death?

In the text

The chapter gives it only in the rulers' own words, as the LORD quotes them: "Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and we are in agreement with Sheol" (28:15). It names no nation, no king and no treaty. It gives what they said would follow: "When the overflowing scourge passes through, it won’t come to us" (28:15). And it gives what they said they had done: "for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood" (28:15). The answer is plain: "Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand" (28:18) (tap annulled). In Hebrew 28:15's agreement is a word the WEB gives in other verses as seer (tap agreement). These notes don't say whom or what the rulers had in mind, and apply the words to no one today.

The verses

““Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and we are in agreement with Sheol. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it won’t come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood.’””
Isaiah 28:15 · World English Bible
“Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it.”
Isaiah 28:18 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Isaiah 28

Isaiah 28: A precious cornerstone

Ephraim's crown of pride is trodden under foot, and two verses later the LORD of Armies becomes the crown of glory (28:1-5). And the stone laid in Zion (28:16) answers rulers who had made lies their refuge; Romans gives its words as "no one who believes in him will be disappointed" (Romans 9:33), of believing in Jesus.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions