Yeshayah 38:18

18 For Sheol cannot thank Thee, mavet can not praise Thee; they that go down into the bor (pit) cannot hope for Thy emes.

Yeshayah 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.

Yeshayah 38:18 In-Context

16 Adonoi, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my ruach; so Thou recovered me to health, and made me to live.

17 Hinei, for shalom (benefit) did I have great bitterness; for Thou hast in love to my nefesh delivered it from the shachat (pit) of destruction; for Thou hast cast all my chatta’im behind Thy back.

18 For Sheol cannot thank Thee, mavet can not praise Thee; they that go down into the bor (pit) cannot hope for Thy emes.

19 The living, the living, he shall thank Thee, as I do today; av to banim shall make known Thy emes.

20 Hashem will save me; therefore we will sing with stringed instruments kol yemei chayyeinu (all the days of our life) in the Beis Hashem.