Yes, the dead knows nothing. The word of God confirms it at Ecclesiastes 9:5.

Death is the end of life; it is the termination of existence.

Cardiac death occurs when the heart stops beating.

Brain death occurs when the brain loses all function and activity.

The breath of life is no more in a dead person.

But can a dead person live again? Yes, Jehovah the Almighty God, who gave life in the beginning, can make one live again by resurrecting all those in his memory – both the righteous and the unrighteous. (John 5:28, 29)

However, from the time a person dies until the resurrection day, the dead knows nothing. (Psalms 146:3, 4)

To say that a person who is no more breathing and whose brain has stopped working is living is a deception. It is Satan who is making people to believe such lies. The dead, as the Bible clearly says in Ecclesiastes 9:5 – which I quoted earlier – truly knows nothing.

•Matthew O. Akinwale, a devout Bible student and one-time missionary of Jehovah’s Witnesses, submitted this article before his recent death at the age 90. His one outstanding article will be published on Wednesday, January 28, 2026.

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