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Psalm 88:10
Do you show wonders to the dead? Do the departed spirits rise up and praise you? Selah.
8You have taken my friends from me. You have made me an abomination to them. I am confined, and I can’t escape.
9My eyes are dim from grief. I have called on you daily, LORD. I have spread out my hands to you.
10Do you show wonders to the dead? Do the departed spirits rise up and praise you? Selah.
11Is your loving kindness declared in the grave? Or your faithfulness in Destruction?
12Are your wonders made known in the dark? Or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
Notice
Questions about wonders among the dead carry the urgency of a grieving person who still wants to see God act and offer praise.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What do you notice about the speaker asking God whether the dead can praise him?
Write on thisWhat would you want to ask God about death after reading these two questions?
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Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 6:5For in death there is no memory of you. In Sheol, who shall give you thanks?Both prayers ask whether praise or thanks can come from the realm of death, making the loss of life a concern brought to God.
Isaiah 26:19Your dead shall live. Their dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast …Both mention departed spirits and rising: Psalm 88 asks whether they rise to praise, while Isaiah declares that the dead shall live.
Psalm 30:9“What profit is there in my destruction, if I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise you? Shall it declare your truth?Both prayers ask whether the dead can praise God, linking the threat of death with the loss of declaring his works.
Isaiah 38:18–19For Sheol can’t praise you. Death can’t celebrate you. Those who go down into the pit can’t hope for your truth.Praise in the realm of death is the shared concern: Psalm 88 asks about it, while Isaiah says Sheol cannot praise God.
1 Corinthians 15:52–57in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.Rising from death connects these texts: Psalm 88 asks whether departed spirits rise, while Corinthians declares that the dead will be raised incorruptible.
Job 26:5“The departed spirits tremble, those beneath the waters and all that live in them.Both name departed spirits: Psalm 88 asks whether they rise and praise God, while Job describes them trembling beneath the waters.
Job 26:6Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.Both concern God and the realm of death; Psalm 88 asks about wonders there, while Job describes Sheol as exposed before God.
Mark 5:35–36While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue ruler’s house, saying, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher any more?”Both voice questions in the face of death: Psalm 88 asks about God's wonders, and the messengers question further appeal to the Teacher.
Psalm 118:17I will not die, but live, and declare the LORD’s works.Both connect life with declaring God's works: Psalm 88 questions praise after death, while Psalm 118 anticipates living to declare those works.
Luke 7:12–16Now when he came near to the gate of the city, behold, one who was dead was carried out, the only born son of his mother, and she was a widow. Many people of …The shared thread is death: Psalm 88 asks about the dead, while Luke describes a widow's only son being carried out for burial.
Job 14:7–12“For there is hope for a tree if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, that the tender branch of it will not cease.The link is limited: Psalm 88 questions life and praise after death, while Job describes a cut tree sprouting again.
Ezekiel 37:1–14The LORD’s hand was on me, and he brought me out in the LORD’s Spirit, and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones.Death is their shared setting: Psalm 88 addresses God about the dead, while Ezekiel is brought by God into a valley of bones.
Where this verse fits
Death and what comes after. grief. feeling distant from God.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
The question about praise comes from someone still speaking to God through grief. Scripture preserves this prayer with its fear of death and its unanswered questions.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).