Isaiah 38:18

Isaiah 38:18 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.
• New International Version (NIV)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 (ESV)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 King James Version (NKJV)For Sheol cannot thank You, Death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth.

Context of Isaiah 38:18

16Lord God, your promises give life to people. May they give life to my spirit. Please make me well again and let me live. 17Yes, it was good for me to have this trouble. You rescued me from the deep hole of death. You removed my sins, and you put them behind your back. Dead people in their graves cannot praise you. They cannot sing to thank you. People who go down into the deep hole of death cannot trust you to help them. 19It is those people who are alive that can thank you. And I am doing it today. Fathers tell their children that they can trust you. 20The Lord will now save me from death. We will sing to thank the Lord in his temple. We will sing with happy music every day of our lives.

Isaiah 38:18 word by word

כִּ֣י לֹ֥א שְׁא֛וֹל תּוֹדֶ֖ךָּ מָ֣וֶת יְהַלְלֶ֑ךָּ לֹֽא־יְשַׂבְּר֥וּ יֽוֹרְדֵי־ב֖וֹר אֶל־אֲמִתֶּֽךָ׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• For the graveשְׁאוֹלshe'ôl she'ôl · hell: SheolH7585
• cannot praiseיָדָהyâdâh · to give thanksH3034
• thee, deathמָ֫וֶתmâveth · deathH4194
• celebrateהָלַלhâlal · to boast: praiseH1984
• thee: they that go downיָרַדyârad · to go downH3381
• into the pitבּוֹרbôr · pitH953
• cannot hopeשָׂבַרώâbar shâbar · to awaitH7663
• for thy truthאֱמֶת'emeth · truth: faithfulH571

Cross-references for Isaiah 38:18

• Psalms 6:5If I die, I will no longer remember you. Nobody can praise you in their grave!
• Psalms 30:9If I go down into the deep hole of death, that will not help you! My dead body cannot praise you there! It cannot tell people to trust you!
• Psalms 88:11People in their graves cannot talk about your faithful love! In the world of death, they cannot say how faithful you are.
• Psalms 115:17Dead people cannot praise the Lord. In their graves, they are unable to speak.
• Ecclesiastes 9:10Use all your strength to do the work that you are doing. One day you will die and you will go into your grave. Then you will not have any work, or ideas, or knowledge or wisdom. So do your work well while you are alive.
• Numbers 16:33They all went down into the deep grave while they were still alive. The ground closed over them and they died, no longer part of God's people.
• Proverbs 14:32When wicked people are in trouble, they cannot stand. But righteous people still trust God, even when they are in danger of death.
• Matthew 8:12But other people who think that God's kingdom belongs to them will not be there. God's angels will throw them into the dark places that are far away from God. There those people will weep very much. They will bite their teeth together.’
• Matthew 25:46Then those people on the king's left side will go away to the place where God will punish them for ever. But the good people on the king's right side will live for ever with God.’
• Luke 16:26But that is not everything. Between you and us, there is a big hole. It is wide and long and deep. There is a reason why that hole is there. Nobody can cross from here to where you are. And nobody can cross from where you are to come here.”

Commentaries on Isaiah 38:18

• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 9-22Verses 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…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 9-20Hezekiah’s poem includes both lament (Isaiah 38:9–14) and praise (38:15–20). The praise remains restrained until the final verse.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 9-209-20. The prayer and thanksgiving song of Hezekiah is only given here, not in the parallel passages of Second Kings and Second Chronicles. Is 38:9 is the heading or inscription.Read the comment

Topics related to Isaiah 38:18

• Afflictions and Adversities
• Death
• Hezekiah
• Hope
• Immortality
• Life
• Murmuring
• Praise
• Psalms

In the dictionaries

• Celebrate
• Hezekiah
• Poetry
• Reckon
• Undertake
• Chronicles, Books of
• Death
• Decease, in the Old Testament and Apocyphra
• Hezekiah (2)
• Isaiah

Commentaries on Isaiah 38

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings