Psalm 113(DRV) and the state of the dead and 'praise'

[Ite_ad_Ioseph]

in the psalm 113 (Douay-Rheims numbering), the psalm sung in tonus peregrinus, it says

25 The dead shall not praise thee, O Lord: nor any of them that go down to hell.
26 But we that live bless the Lord: from this time now and for ever.

what does that mean? I can’t think of an explanation. The saints in heaven praise God, as we see in the book of Apocalypse. unless this refers to purgatorial souls.

thoughts?

 

[Todd_Easton]

I have heard it explained that the dead cannot praise God as the living do because they no longer have the physical means (mouth, lips, breath, etc.).

However, I rather think that because God had not yet revealed much about the true state of the dead, the psalmist wrote what he did concerning the state of the dead based on human experiance and human wisdom, not divine revelation; as far as the psalmist then knew, the dead did not praised God. The psalmist knows better now.

 

[Fidelis]

However, I rather think that because God had not yet revealed much about the true state of the dead, the psalmist wrote what he did concerning the state of the dead based on human experiance and human wisdom, not divine revelation; as far as the psalmist then knew, the dead did not praised God. The psalmist knows better now.

This is my understanding of this and similar OT passages as well.

 

[LilyM]

The explanation could be somewhat simpler. Who are those who go down into the pit? The damned. Those in mortal sin, which has been described as being deadly to the soul. Not that the souls existence is obliterated by mortal sin, but its divine life is extinguished in an important sense).

So my theory is ‘dead’ = ‘spiritually dead’ = ‘damned’. And I’d bet you anything you like that the damned certainly ain’t praising God!