Hades or the world of the dead (as if a subterranean re… · noun, common both genders singular absolute
praise
תּוֹדֶ֖ךָּto.De.ka
H3034
physically · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
death
מָ֣וֶתMa.vet
H4194
death (natural or violent) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
celebrate
יְהַלְלֶ֑ךָּye.ha.Le.ka
H1984
to be clear (orig. of sound · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
down
יֽוֹרְדֵיyor.dei-
H3381
to descend (literally · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct
pit
ב֖וֹרVor
H953
a pit hole (especially one used as a cistern or a priso… · noun, common masculine singular absolute
hope
יְשַׂבְּר֥וּye.sa.be.Ru
H7663
to scrutinize · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
truth
אֲמִתֶּֽךָ'a.mi.Te.kha
H571
stability · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither…
Psalms 6:5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?
Psalms 30:9 What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?
Psalms 88:10-11 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.
Psalms 115:17-18 The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.
Numbers 16:33 They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congr…
Proverbs 14:32 The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.
Matthew 8:12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 38:9–end
We have here Hezekiah's thanksgiving-song, which he penned, by divine direction, after his recovery. He might have taken some of the psalms of his father David, and made use of them for his purpose; he might have found many very pertinent ones. He appointed the Levites to praise the Lord with the words of David, Ch2 29:30. But the occasion here was extraordinary, and, his heart being full of devout affections, he would not confine himself to the compositions he had, though of divine inspiration, but would offer up his affections in his own words, which is most natural and genuine. He put this thanksgiving in writing, that he might review it himself afterwards, for the reviving of the good im…
death--that is, the dead; Hades and its inhabitants (Job 28:22; see on 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" (Ti2 1:10).
hope for thy truth…
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 h…
The Church Fathers
For they that are in the grave cannot praise thee, nor can the dead celebrate thee; nor can they that are in the grave hope for thy mercy. The living shall praise thee, even as I also do; meaning: For if Thou hadst not granted me still to live, how could I have been converted, or have repented and been saved, or have hope of Thy mercy, since the dead who are in the grave can do nothing of this kind, but in Thy compassion Thou hast graciously granted me this
[Those who live in a godly manner] and participate in such goodness are the only ones able to give glory to God, and that is what really constitutes a feast and a holy day. For the feast is not indulging in a lot of food or dressing up in lovely clothes. It is not enjoying days of leisure. It is acknowledging God and offering thanksgiving and songs of praise to him. But this belongs to the saints alone, who live in Christ.… That is the way it was with Hezekiah, who was delivered from death and therefore praised God, saying, "Those who are in hell cannot praise you; the dead cannot bless you; but the living shall bless you, as I do today."
(Verse 18) For neither the underworld will confess to you, nor death praise you: those who descend into the pit will not await your truth. For hell and death will not confess or praise you, according to what is written: For in death there is no remembrance of you (Psalm 6:5). And here confession is understood not for repentance, but for glory and praise, as we also read in the Gospel, I confess to you, O Lord, Father of heaven and earth (Matthew 11:25). Those who descend into the pit will not expect your truth, he says, but rather your mercy, better than in the Septuagint. For he who is in hell does not expect the truth of judgment, but the mercy of God, especially when the Savior descended into hell to free the captives from the depths. They transferred the dead to the same place more clearly.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Poetry — Has been well defined as “the measured language of emotion.” Hebrew poetry deals almost exclusively with the great question of man’s relation to God. “Guilt, condemnation, punishment, pardon,…
Death, Natural · When averted for a season, is a motive to increased devotedness — When averted for a season, is a motive to increased devotedness
Hezekiah · .His psalm of thanksgiving — .His psalm of thanksgiving
Life, Natural · Is compared to: A shepherd’s tent removed — Is compared to: A shepherd’s tent removed
Murmuring · .Hezekiah — .Hezekiah
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
For hell shall not confess thee [94] When he says that he would not have celebrated the praises of God, if his life had been taken away, he promises that he will be thankful and will keep it in remembrance, and at the same time declares that the highest and most desirable advantage that life can yield to him is, that he will praise God. But although it is a sign of true piety to desire life for no other reason than to spend it in the unceasing praises of God, yet Hezekiah appears to employ language which is too exclusive; for the death of believers declares the glory of God not less than their life, and, being after death perfectly united to God, they do not cease to proclaim his praises alo…
In strophe 4 he rejoices in the preservation of his life as the highest good, and promises to praise God for it as long as he lives.
"For Hades does not praise Thee; death does not sing praises to Thee:
They that sink into the grave do not hope for Thy truth.
The living, the living, he praises Thee, as I do today;
The father to the children makes known Thy truth.
Jehovah is ready to give me salvation;
Therefore will we play my stringed instruments all the days of my life
In the house of Jehovah."
We have here that comfortless idea of the future state, which is so common in the Psalms (vid., Psa 6:6; Psa 30:10; Psa 88:12-13, cf., Psa 115:17), and also in the book of Ecclesiastes (Ecc…
God’s restoration of Hezekiah’s health also symbolized the restoration from exile that Judah would experience in the future.
Rashi on Isaiah 38:18
[For the grave shall not thank You Had I died, I would not thank You for the miracle of the downfall of Sennacherib, and I would not hope for the realization of Your promise that You promised me concerning him.]
