What Does Psalm 6:5 Mean?
For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol, who gives you thanks?
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?THE KEY
The verse joins remembering God to voicing thanks, showing that remembrance here is a living act of acknowledgment.
THE MEANING
As you read, remembering God reaches beyond an idea held within: it takes shape as acknowledgment and thanks. The verse voices the fear that death closes this living response, giving weight to the present moment in which you can still speak it.
THE ROOT
יוֹדֶה
yodeh
GROWS FROM
ידה
Y-D-H
Yadah means to acknowledge, confess, praise, or give thanks.
“gives you thanks” in this verse is yodeh. The verb translated “give thanks” also carries the sense of confession and praise, so the verse asks about a living act of acknowledgment, not just a feeling of gratitude. Its word-family includes thanksgiving and praise, widening the act from inward feeling to expression.
ALSO GROWS
todah: Thanksgiving; confession or acknowledgment.
תּוֹדָה
This noun makes visible how giving thanks and openly acknowledging something belong to the same word-family.
Yehudah: A name connected in Genesis with praising the LORD.
יְהוּדָה
The name’s link to praise echoes the verse’s picture of thanks as an act that can be expressed.
זִכְרֶךָ
zikhrekha
GROWS FROM
זכר
Z-K-R
Zakar means to remember, call to mind, or mention.
This word-family can hold recollection and mention together: remembering can mean keeping someone in mind and naming them. Paired with giving thanks, it connects inward remembrance with spoken acknowledgment.
ALSO GROWS
zeker: Remembrance, mention, or memorial.
זֵכֶר
Its sense of mention brings the possibility of speaking what is remembered closer to the verse’s act of thanks.
zikaron: A remembrance or memorial that keeps someone or something in mind.
זִכָּרוֹן
This branch shows remembrance as something that can be given form and carried forward.
THE PATTERN
Life gives remembrance a voice through praise and thanks.
The dead do not praise the LORD, nor do any who go down into silence.Let every thing that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.Through him, then, let us always carry up a sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.THE THREAD
What profit is there in my blood, when I come down into the pit? Will the dust extend its hands in thanks to you? Will it set forth your truth?Psalm 30:9 uses the same Hebrew root ידה (Y-D-H; yadah, to acknowledge, praise, or give thanks), asking whether dust can praise. The shared root lets both verses frame life as the space where acknowledgment is spoken.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us