以赛亚书 38:18

Chinese NCV (Simplified)

陰間不能稱謝你，死亡不能讚美你，下坑的人都不能仰望你的信實。

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
原 来 ， 阴 间 不 能 称 谢 你 ， 死 亡 不 能 颂 扬 你 ； 下 坑 的 人 不 能 盼 望 你 的 诚 实 。

Contextual Overview

⁹ After Hezekiah king of Judah got well, he wrote this song: ¹⁰ I said, "I am in the middle of my life. Do I have to go through the gates of death? Will I have the rest of my life taken away from me?" ¹¹ I said, "I will not see the Lord in the land of the living again. I will not again see the people who live on the earth. ¹² Like a shepherd's tent, my home has been pulled down and taken from me. I am finished like the cloth a weaver rolls up and cuts from the loom. In one day you brought me to this end. ¹³ All night I cried loudly. Like a lion, he crushed all my bones. In one day you brought me to this end. ¹⁴ I cried like a bird and moaned like a dove. My eyes became tired as I looked to the heavens. Lord, I have troubles. Please help me." ¹⁵ What can I say? The Lord told me what would happen and then made it happen. I have had these troubles in my soul, so now I will be humble all my life. ¹⁶ Lord, because of you, people live. Because of you, my spirit also lives; you made me well and let me live. ¹⁷ It was for my own good that I had such troubles. Because you love me very much, you did not let me die but threw my sins far away. ¹⁸ People in the place of the dead cannot praise you; those who have died cannot sing praises to you; those who die don't trust you to help them.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the grave: Psalms 6:5, Psalms 30:9, Psalms 88:11, Psalms 115:17, Psalms 115:18, Ecclesiastes 9:10

they that: Numbers 16:33, Proverbs 14:32, Matthew 8:12, Matthew 25:46, Luke 16:26-31

Reciprocal: Job 17:16 - the bars of the pit Job 33:28 - will deliver Psalms 28:1 - I become Psalms 30:3 - brought Psalms 67:3 - General Psalms 88:4 - counted Psalms 88:10 - Wilt thou Psalms 143:7 - unto them Ecclesiastes 9:4 - General Zechariah 9:12 - even John 9:4 - while John 17:15 - take Philippians 1:22 - this

Cross-References

Genesis 38:25
When the people went to bring Tamar out, she sent a message to her father-in-law that said, "The man who owns these things has made me pregnant. Look at this seal and its cord and this walking stick, and tell me whose they are."

Genesis 38:26
Judah recognized them and said, "She is more in the right than I. She did this because I did not give her to my son Shelah as I promised." And Judah did not have sexual relations with her again.

Jeremiah 22:24
"As surely as I live," says the Lord , "Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, even if you were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still pull you off.

Hosea 4:11
prostitution, to old and new wine, which take away their ability to understand.

Luke 15:22
But the father said to his servants, ‘Hurry! Bring the best clothes and put them on him. Also, put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For the grave cannot praise thee - The Hebrew word here is sheol. It is put by metonymy here for those who are in the grave, that is, for the dead. The word ‘praise’ here refers evidently to the public and solemn celebration of the goodness of God. It is clear, I think, that Hezekiah had a belief in a future state, or that he expected to dwell with ‘the inhabitants of the land of silence’ Isaiah 38:11 when he died. But he did not regard that state as one adapted to the celebration of the public praises of God. It was a land of darkness; an abode of silence and stillness; a place where there was no temple, and no public praise such as he had been accustomed to. A similar sentiment is expressed by David in Psalms 6:5 :

For in death there is no remembrance of thee;

In the grave who shall give thee thanks?

In regard to the Jewish conceptions of the state of the dead, see the notes at Isaiah 14:15, Isaiah 14:19.

(See the Supplementary note at Isaiah 14:9; also the Prefatory Remarks by the Editor on the Author’s exposition of Job. The ideas entertained by the Author on the state of knowledge among the ancient saints regarding a future world, cannot but be regarded as especially unfortunate. After the fashion of some German critics, the Old Testament worthies are reduced to the same level with the heroes of Homer and Virgil, as far as this matter is concerned at least.)

Cannot hope for thy truth - They are shut out from all the means by which thy truth is brought to the mind, and the offers of salvation are presented. Their probation is at an end; their privileges are closed; their destiny is sealed up. The idea is, it is a privilege to live, because this is a world where the offers of salvation are made, and where those who are conscious of guilt may hope in the mercy of God.