Psalms 6:5

6:5 For no one remembers you in the realm of death, ¹ 

In Sheol who gives you thanks? ² 

Psalms 88:10-12

88:10 Do you accomplish amazing things for the dead?

Do the departed spirits ³  rise up and give you thanks? (Selah)

88:11 Is your loyal love proclaimed in the grave,

or your faithfulness in the place of the dead? ⁴ 

88:12 Are your amazing deeds experienced ⁵  in the dark region, ⁶ 

or your deliverance in the land of oblivion? ⁷ 

Psalms 115:17-18

115:17 The dead do not praise the Lord,

nor do any of those who descend into the silence of death. ⁸ 

115:18 But we will praise the Lord

now and forevermore.

Praise the Lord!

Psalms 118:17

118:17 I will not die, but live,

and I will proclaim what the Lord has done. ⁹ 

Ecclesiastes 9:10

9:10 Whatever you find to do with your hands, ¹⁰ 

do it with all your might,

because there is neither work nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave, ¹¹ 

the place where you will eventually go. ¹² 

Isaiah 38:18

38:18 Indeed ¹³  Sheol does not give you thanks;

death does not ¹⁴  praise you.

Those who descend into the pit do not anticipate your faithfulness.

[6:5]  ¹ tn Heb “for there is not in death your remembrance.” The Hebrew noun זֵכֶר (zekher, “remembrance”) here refers to the name of the Lord as invoked in liturgy and praise. Cf. Pss 30:4; 97:12. “Death” here refers to the realm of death where the dead reside. See the reference to Sheol in the next line.

[6:5]  ² tn The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “no one.”

[88:10]  ³ tn Heb “Rephaim,” a term that refers to those who occupy the land of the dead (see Isa 14:9; 26:14, 19).

[88:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “in Abaddon,” a name for Sheol. The noun is derived from a verbal root meaning “to perish,” “to die.”

[88:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “known.”

[88:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “darkness,” here a title for Sheol.

[88:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “forgetfulness.” The noun, which occurs only here in the OT, is derived from a verbal root meaning “to forget.”

[115:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “silence,” a metonymy here for death (see Ps 94:17).

[118:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “the works of the Lord.”

[9:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Whatever your hand finds to do.”

[9:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Sheol.”

[9:10]  ¹² tn Or “where you are about to go.”

[38:18]  ¹³ tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[38:18]  ¹⁴ tn The negative particle is understood by ellipsis in this line. See GKC 483 §152.z.