For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?
In death there is no remembrance of thee, х zikrekaa (H2143)] - 'memorial of thee' (as in Psalms 9:6). 'Here and elsewhere (Psalms 30:9; Psalms 115:17-18; Psalms 88:10; Isaiah 38:18) death and the separate state are contemplated in the aspect which they bear to the unpardoned sinner, apart from the influence of redemption: Death, with its sting-and Hades, viewed as the dark prison-house of spirits reserved unto the judgment-another consequence of sin. But the aspect of both is changed by the fact that Christ has encountered death and descended into Hades, by which both are in His power, and are no longer objects of terror (Revelation 1:18). While, even as regards the redeemed, it is still the living who pre-eminently praise God (Isaiah 38:19); as well those who now live, as those who shall hereafter live again out of death by resurrection. The glory of God, in service and testimony, which is the end of man's being, cannot be answered among men in death as in life; and the intermediate state of separation from the body, though blessed, is imperfect, and is one of rest, rather than active service, where there is remembrance of God, but no memorial to His praise' (DeBurgh).
David does not deny consciousness of God in the intermediate state [the English version, "the grave;" rather, Shª'owl (H7585); Greek, ( Hadees (G86)], but implies that the state of disembodied spirits is one in which the praises, which are so grateful to God (Psalms 50:23; cf. Hebrews 13:15), and which are the main end of life, can no longer be rendered by man in his integrity, body, soul, and spirit, and before his fellow-men. David foresaw the resurrection (Psalms 16:9-11; Psalms 17:15) the doctrine which is so clearly brought to light by Christianity (2 Timothy 1:10). The word hell (from the Saxon hillan, or helan, to hide; holl, hole) meant originally the unseen place of spirits, like the Hebrew sheol, not the place of the damned. So in Psalms 16:10; Psalms 49:15, Hebrew, sheol; the English version, "the grave;" margin, 'hell'; 55:15. cf. margin: and in the Apostles' Creed, 'He descended into hell' [The Hebrew is derived from shaa'al (H7592), to demand, referring to its insatiableness (Proverbs 27:20; Proverbs 30:16; Isaiah 5:14; Habakkuk 2:5).]