Isaiah 38:18

18 For Sheol cannot thank you, death cannot praise you; those who go down to the Pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.

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 O Lord, by these things people live, and in all these is the life of my spirit. Oh, restore me to health and make me live!

17 Surely it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but you have held back my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.

18 For Sheol cannot thank you, death cannot praise you; those who go down to the Pit cannot hope for your faithfulness.

19 The living, the living, they thank you, as I do this day; fathers make known to children your faithfulness.

20 The Lord will save me, and we will sing to stringed instruments all the days of our lives, at the house of the Lord.