Do You work wonders for the dead? Do departed spirits rise up to praise You? Selah
Parallel translations
- WEB Do you show wonders to the dead? Do the departed spirits rise up and praise you? Selah.
- KJV Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.
- NKJV Will You work wonders for the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise You? Selah
- NASB ¶Will You perform wonders for the dead? Or will the departed spirits rise and praise You? Selah
- NLT Are your wonderful deeds of any use to the dead? Do the dead rise up and praise you? Interlude
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
He asks whether God works wonders for the dead or whether the departed rise to praise Him. He pleads that God act before death silences his praise.
Overview
Heman reasons that the dead, in his limited Old Testament view of Sheol, cannot witness or proclaim God's wonders. He urges God to save him while he can still praise. The fuller answer comes in Christ, who indeed shows wonders to the dead by raising them, transforming Sheol's silence into resurrection praise.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ps 6:5For there is no mention of You in death; who can praise You from Sheol?
- Isa 26:19Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For your dew is like the dew of the morning, and the earth will bring forth her dead.
- 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.
- 1 Cor 15:52–57in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
- Mark 5:35–36While He was still speaking, messengers from the house of Jairus arrived and said, “Your daughter is dead; why bother the Teacher anymore?”
- Ps 118:17I will not die, but I will live and proclaim what the LORD has done.
- Ps 115:17It is not the dead who praise the LORD, nor any who descend into silence.
- Job 14:7–12For there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its tender shoots will not fail.
- Luke 7:12–16As He approached the town gate, He saw a dead man being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her.
- Ezek 37:1–14The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley, and it was full of bones.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 88:10 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.