Isaiah 38:18

18 "Sh'ol cannot thank you, death cannot praise you; those descending to the pit cannot hope for your truth.

Isaiah 38:18 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 38:18

For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate
thee
That is, they that are in the grave, and under the power of death, they cannot celebrate the praises of God with their bodily organs; their souls may praise him in heaven, but they in their bodies cannot till the resurrection morn, or as long as they are under the dominion of the grave; so the Targum,

``they that are in the grave cannot confess before thee, and the dead cannot praise thee;''

in like manner the Septuagint and Arabic versions: this shows the design of God in restoring him from his sickness, and the view he himself had in desiring life, which was to praise the Lord; and which end could not have been answered had he died, and been laid in the grave: they that go down to the pit cannot hope for thy truth:
for the performance of promises, in which the truth and faithfulness of God appear; or for the Messiah, the truth of all the types of the former dispensation; those that go down to the pit of the grave, or are carried and laid there, can have no exercise of faith and hope concerning these things.

Isaiah 38:18 In-Context

16 Adonai, by these things people live; in all these is the life of my spirit. You're restoring my health and giving me life

17 though instead of peace, I felt very bitter. You desired my life and preserved it from the nothingness pit; for you threw all my sins behind your back.

18 "Sh'ol cannot thank you, death cannot praise you; those descending to the pit cannot hope for your truth.

19 The living, the living - they can thank you, as I do today; fathers will make their children know about your faithfulness.

20 ADONAI is ready to save me; hence we will make our stringed instruments sound all the days of our life in the house of ADONAI."