Isaiah 38:18 For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.

◄ Isaiah 38:18 ►

Parallel Verses

New International Version
For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.

English Standard Version
For Sheol does not thank you; death does not praise you; those who go down to the pit do not hope for your faithfulness.

New American Standard Bible
"For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.

King James Bible
For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
For Sheol cannot thank You; Death cannot praise You. Those who go down to the Pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.

International Standard Version
For Sheol cannot thank you, death cannot sing your praise; and those who go down to the Pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.

American Standard Version
For Sheol cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: They that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For hell shall not confess to thee, neither shall death praise thee: nor shall they that go down into the pit, look for thy truth.

Darby Bible Translation
For not Sheol shall praise thee, nor death celebrate thee; they that go down into the pit do not hope for thy truth.

Young's Literal Translation
For Sheol doth not confess Thee, Death doth not praise Thee, Those going down to the pit hope not for Thy truth.

Cross References

Numbers 16:33
They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed on them: and they perished from among the congregation.

Psalm 6:5
For in death there is no remembrance of you: in the grave who shall give you thanks?

Psalm 28:1
To you will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if you be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.

Psalm 30:9
What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise you? shall it declare your truth?

Psalm 88:11
Shall your loving kindness be declared in the grave? or your faithfulness in destruction?

Psalm 115:17
The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.

Ecclesiastes 9:10
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, where you go.

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Commentaries

Matthew Henry's Commentary

38:9-22 We have here Hezekiah's thanksgiving. It is well for us to remember the mercies we receive in sickness. Hezekiah records the condition he was in. He dwells upon this; I shall no more see the Lord. A good man wishes not to live for any other end than that he may serve God, and have communion with him. Our present residence is like that of a shepherd in his hut, a poor, mean, and cold lodging, and with a trust committed to our charge, as the shepherd has. Our days are compared to the weaver's shuttle, Job 7:6, passing and repassing very swiftly, every throw leaving a thread behind it; and when finished, the piece is cut off, taken out of the loom, and showed to our Master to be judged of. A good man, when his life is cut off, his cares and fatigues are cut off with it, and he rests from his labours. But our times are in God's hand; he has appointed what shall be the length of the piece. When sick, we are very apt to calculate our time, but are still at uncertainty. It should be more our care how we shall get safe to another world. And the more we taste of the loving-kindness of God, the more will our hearts love him, and live to him. It was in love to our poor perishing souls that Christ delivered them. The pardon does not make the sin not to have been sin, but not to be punished as it deserves. It is pleasant to think of our recoveries from sickness, when we see them flowing from the pardon of sin. Hezekiah's opportunity to glorify God in this world, he made the business, and pleasure, and end of life. Being recovered, he resolves to abound in praising and serving God. God's promises are not to do away, but to quicken and encourage the use of means. Life and health are given that we may glorify God and do good.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

18. death—that is, the dead; Hades and its inhabitants (Job 28:22; see on [776]Isa 38:11). Plainly Hezekiah believed in a world of disembodied spirits; his language does not imply what skepticism has drawn from it, but simply that he regarded the disembodied state as one incapable of declaring the praises of God before men, for it is, as regards this world, an unseen land of stillness; "the living" alone can praise God on earth, in reference to which only he is speaking; Isa 57:1, 2 shows that at this time the true view of the blessedness of the righteous dead was held, though not with the full clearness of the Gospel, which "has brought life and immortality to light" (2Ti 1:10).

hope for thy truth—(Ps 104:27). Their probation is at an end. They can no longer exercise faith and hope in regard to Thy faithfulness to Thy promises, which are limited to the present state. For "hope" ceases (even in the case of the godly) when sight begins (Ro 8:24, 25); the ungodly have "no hope" (1Th 4:13). Hope in God's truth is one of the grounds of praise to God (Ps 71:14; 119:49). Others translate, "cannot celebrate."