For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.
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.
- BSB For Sheol cannot thank You; Death cannot praise You. Those who descend to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
- 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 9:10Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
- Ps 30:9What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?
- Ps 6:5For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?
- Ps 88:10–11Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.
- Ps 115:17–18The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.
- Num 16:33They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation.
- Luke 16:26–31And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
- Prov 14:32The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.
- Matt 8:12But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
- Matt 25:46And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.