Psalms 88:10
in Psalms 88Do You work wonders for the dead? Do departed spirits rise up to praise You? Selah
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? Shall they that are deceased arise and praise thee? [Selah
KJV
Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.
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This verse in Psalms 88
Commentary
11 notes on this verse"Wilt thou show wonders to the dead?" Not to those who, living, are dead, but to me who live in thee. "Or shall physicians raise them up?" and the rest. Not the spices of physicians, but thou, Father, raisest me up; nor they, but I will confess among the peoples.
This site's exposition
wonders for the dead
on Psalms 88:10-12
Four questions run here, and each expects the answer no. Abaddon in verse 11 names the place of the dead, from the Hebrew word for perishing. The questions set God's own praise at stake, and Psalm 6:5 asks the same, who can praise You from Sheol.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
But as His good works profited only the predestined to eternal salvation, and not all men, nor even all those among whom they were done, he adds, "Dost thou show wonders among the dead?" (ver. 10). If we suppose this relates to those whose flesh life has left, great wonders have been wrought among the dead, inasmuch as some of them have revived: and in our Lord's descent into Hell, and His ascent as the conqueror of death, a great wonder was wrought among the dead. He refers then in these words, "Dost Thou show wonders among the dead?" to men so dead in heart, that such great works of Christ could not rouse them to the life of faith: for he does not say that wonders are not shown to them because they see them not, but because they do not profit them. For, as he says in this passage, "the whole day have I stretched forth My hands to Thee:" because He ever refers all His works to the will of His Father, constantly declaring that He came to fulfil His Father's will: so also, as an unbelieving people saw the same works, another Prophet saith, "I have spread out my hands all day unto a rebellious people, that believes not, but contradicts." Those then are dead, to whom wonders have not been shown, not because they saw them not, but since they lived not again through them. The following verse, "Shall physicians revive them, and shall they praise Thee?" means, that the dead shall not be revived by such means, that they may praise Thee. […]
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
A man of prayer, one that gave himself to prayer at all times, but especially now that he was in affliction; for is any afflicted? let him pray. It is his comfort that he had prayed; it is his complaint that, notwithstanding his prayer, he was still in affliction. Very earnest in prayer: " I have cried unto thee (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
Wilt thou show wonders to the dead?....
But shall thy lovingkindness to thy people be declared in the grave, either by those or to those that lie buried there? And thy faithfulness to thy promise, shall that be told in destruction? shall thy wonders be wrought in the dark, or known there, and thy righteousness in the grave, which is the land of forgetfulness, where men remember nothing, nor are themselves remembered?
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? Wherefore then suffer me to die? While I live thou canst in me display the glories of thy grace, but when I have passed into the unknown land, how canst thou illustrate in me thy love? If I perish thou wilt lose a worshipper who both reverenced, and in his own experience illustrated, the wonders of thy character and acts. This is good pleading, and therefore he repeats it. Shall the dead arise and praise thee?
4 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
shall the dead--the remains of ghosts. arise--literally, "rise up," that is, as dead persons. 11, 12. amplify the foregoing, the whole purport (as Ps 6:5) being to contrast death and life as seasons for praising God.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? Wherefore then suffer me to die? While I live thou canst in me display the glories of thy grace, but when I have passed into the unknown land, how canst thou illustrate in me thy love? If I perish thou wilt lose a worshipper who both reverenced, and in his own experience illustrated, the wonders of thy character and acts. This is good pleading, and therefore he repeats it. Shall the dead arise and praise thee? He is thinking only of the present, and not of the last great day, and he urges that the Lord would have one the less to praise him among the sons of men. Shades take no part in the quires of the Sabbath, ghosts sing no joyous Psalms, sepulchres and vaults send forth no notes of thanksgiving. True the souls of departed saints render glory to God, but the dejected Psalmist's thoughts do not mount to heaven but survey the gloomy grave: he stays on this side of eternity, where in the grave he sees no wonders and hears no songs. Selah. At the mouth of the tomb he sits down to meditate, and then returns to his theme.
Wilt thou show wonders to the dead! - מתים methim, dead men. Shall the dead - רפאים rephaim, “the manes or departed spirits.” Arise and praise thee? - Any more in this life? The interrogations in this and the two following verses imply the strongest negations.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? - The wonders - or the things suited to excite admiration - which the living behold. Shall the dead see those things which here tend to excite reverence for thee, and which lead people to worship thee? The idea is that the dead will be cut off from all the privileges which attend the living on earth; or, that those in the grave cannot contemplate the character and the greatness of God. He urges this as a reason why he should be rescued. The sentiment here is substantially the same as in Psa 6:5. See the notes at that passage. Compare Isa 38:18. Shall the dead arise and praise thee? - The original word, here rendered “the dead,” is Rephaim - רפאים rephâ'iym. On its meaning, see the notes at Isa 14:9. It means, properly, relaxed, languid, feeble, weak; and is then applied to the dead - the shades - the Manes - dwelling in the under-world in Sheol, or Hades, and supposed to be as shades or shadows, weak and feeble. The question here is not whether they would rise to live again, or appear in this world, but whether in Sheol they would rise up from their resting places, and praise God as men in vigor and in health can on the earth. The question has no reference to the future resurrection. It relates to the supposed dark, dismal, gloomy, inactive state of the dead.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Will You perform a wonder for the dead? Do You perform a wonder and miracles for the wicked, who are called dead even in their lifetime?
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲלַמֵּתִ֥ים | halametim | ¿ for the dead | H4191 → | 839 times |
| תַּעֲשֶׂה־ | taaseh- | will you do | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| פֶּ֑לֶא | pele' | wonder[s] | H6382 → | 13 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | or? | H518 → | 1069 times |
| רְ֝פָאִ֗ים | refaim | [the] shades | H7496 → | |
| יָק֤וּמוּ׀ | yakumu | will they arise | H6965 → | 628 times |
| יוֹד֬וּךָ | yodukha | will they give thanks to? you | H3034 → | 114 times |
| סֶּֽלָה׃ | selah | Selah | H5542 → | 74 times |
הֲלַמֵּתִ֥ים¿ for the dead
halametimH4191 →839 times
תַּעֲשֶׂה־will you do
taaseh-H6213 →2628 times
פֶּ֑לֶאwonder[s]
pele'H6382 →13 times
אִם־or?
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
רְ֝פָאִ֗ים[the] shades
refaimH7496 →
יָק֤וּמוּ׀will they arise
yakumuH6965 →628 times
יוֹד֬וּךָwill they give thanks to? you
yodukhaH3034 →114 times
סֶּֽלָה׃Selah
selahH5542 →74 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 6:5For there is no mention of You in death; who can praise You from Sheol?
it leads to
- Psalms 88:10–12
Do You work wonders for the dead? Do departed spirits rise up to praise You? Selah
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 115:17
It is not the dead who praise the LORD, nor any who descend into silence.
- Ecclesiastes 9:10
Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.
- Psalms 30:9
“What gain is there in my bloodshed, in my descent to the Pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it proclaim Your faithfulness?
- Psalms 88:10–12
Through
Isaiah 26:19Your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust! For your dew is like the dew of the morning, and the earth will bring forth her…
it leads to
- Daniel 12:2
And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.
- Ezekiel 37:1–14
The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley, and it was full of bones.
- Matthew 27:52
The tombs broke open, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised.
- Ephesians 5:14
So it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
- Daniel 12:2
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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About Psalms
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 88; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Homily 65, on Psalm 87 (Alternate Series); John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of Psalms; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.