Isaiah 22:14

“Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.” — KJV

Why This Verse Matters

God declares this sin will not be H3722 kaphar-ed — covered, atoned for, expiated — “until you die.” But ordinary death does not atone for sin. If it did, everyone who dies would be forgiven. The Targum Jonathan recognized the problem:

“This your iniquity shall not be forgiven you till you die the second death, said the Lord, the God of hosts.”

The Hebrew signals a death beyond atonement’s reach. H3722 kaphar — the Day of Atonement word, the word for the mercy seat’s covering — fails here. This iniquity is not covered until a death occurs that is itself the final reckoning. Not a death that leads to resurrection, but a death that IS the sentence.

This is one of six OT passages where the Targums use “second death,” always meaning permanent, final death. For the full chain — from these Hebrew signals through the Aramaic Targums to the Hebrew Revelation’s acher maveth (another kind of death) — see the Revelation 20:14 verse study and the Nature of Hell master study.