For Sheol cannot thank You; Death cannot praise You. Those who descend to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
Parallel translations
- WEB For Sheol can’t praise you. Death can’t celebrate you. Those who go down into the pit can’t hope for your truth.
- KJV For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.
- NKJV For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth.
- NASB “For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
- NLT For the dead cannot praise you; they cannot raise their voices in praise. Those who go down to the grave can no longer hope in your faithfulness.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Hezekiah observes that the dead in Sheol cannot praise God or hope in his truth. He treasures life as the arena for worship.
Overview
Reflecting Old Testament perspective, the king notes that those in the grave do not declare God's faithfulness as the living do. His point is the value of life for praising God, not a denial of any afterlife. The hope of resurrection, unfolded more fully later in Scripture, ultimately overturns the silence of the grave in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Eccl 9:10Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.
- Ps 30:9“What gain is there in my bloodshed, in my descent to the Pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it proclaim Your faithfulness?
- Ps 6:5For there is no mention of You in death; who can praise You from Sheol?
- Ps 88:10–11Do You work wonders for the dead? Do departed spirits rise up to praise You? Selah
- Ps 115:17–18It is not the dead who praise the LORD, nor any who descend into silence.
- Num 16:33They went down alive into Sheol with all they owned. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly.
- Luke 16:26–31And besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that even those who wish cannot cross from here to you, nor can anyone cross from there to us.’
- Prov 14:32The wicked man is thrown down by his own sin, but the righteous man has a refuge even in death.
- Matt 8:12But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
- Matt 25:46And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 38:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.