Isaiah 38:18
16 O Lord, by such things men live, and in all of them my spirit finds life. You have restored me to health and have let me live.
17 Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
For Sheol cannot thank You; Death cannot praise You. Those who descend to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
19 The living, only the living, can thank You, as I do today; fathers will tell their children about Your faithfulness.
20 The LORD will save me; we will play songs on stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the LORD.
Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- For Sheol cannot thank You; Death cannot praise You. Those who descend to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
- KJV
- For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.
- 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.
- ASV
- For Sheol cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.
- DARBY
- For not Sheol shall praise thee, nor death celebrate thee; they that go down into the pit do not hope for thy truth.
- BLB
- For Sheol cannot thank You [nor] death praise You; those going down to the Pit cannot have hope for Your faithfulness.
- ÅB
- For ikke priser dødsriket deg, ikke lover døden deg; ikke venter de som farer ned i graven, på din trofasthet.
- OTB
- For de dødes rike kan ikke takke deg, heller ikke kan døden prise deg; de som stiger ned til graven kan ikke håpe på din trofasthet.
- B1930
- For ikke priser dødsriket dig, ikke lover døden dig; ikke venter de som farer ned i graven, på din trofasthet.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Ecclesiastes 9:10
Whatever 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.
Read in contextPsalms 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?
Read in contextPsalms 6:5
For there is no mention of You in death; who can praise You from Sheol?
Read in contextPsalms 88:10–11
Do You work wonders for the dead? Do departed spirits rise up to praise You? Selah
Read in contextPsalms 115:17–18
It is not the dead who praise the LORD, nor any who descend into silence.
Read in contextNumbers 16:33
They went down alive into Sheol with all they owned. The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly.
Read in contextLuke 16:26–31
And 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.’
Read in contextMatthew 25:46
And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Read in context