For there is no mention of You in death; who can praise You from Sheol?
Parallel translations
- WEB For in death there is no memory of you. In Sheol, who shall give you thanks?
- KJV For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?
- NKJV For in death there is no remembrance of You; In the grave who will give You thanks?
- NASB For there is no mention of You in death; In Sheol, who will praise You?
- NLT For the dead do not remember you. Who can praise you from the grave?
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
David urges that the dead cannot remember or praise God, pressing his plea for life. This Old Testament cry longs for continued life to worship the Lord.
Overview
Speaking from the limited revelation of his day, David reasons that in death and Sheol he could no longer openly praise God, so he begs for deliverance now. This is not a denial of any afterlife but an honest expression of dread before death's apparent silence. The full answer comes in Christ, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light (2 Timothy 1:10), so that even the dead in Christ shall praise Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Ps 88:10–12Do You work wonders for the dead? Do departed spirits rise up to praise You? Selah
- Ps 115:17It is not the dead who praise the LORD, nor any who descend into silence.
- 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?
- Isa 38:18–19For Sheol cannot thank You; Death cannot praise You. Those who descend to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
- Ps 118:17I will not die, but I will live and proclaim what the LORD has done.
- John 9:4While it is daytime, we must do the works of Him who sent Me. Night is coming, when no one can work.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 6:5 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.