What translation is that from? Is it the ERV (Easy To Read Version)? Of the 62 English translations listed by the Bible Gateway website, the ERV is the only one to have added the words "So they were not still dead". You shouldn't trust a translation that adds to the Word of God!Matthew 22:32
God said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ So they were not still dead, because he is the God only of living people.”
Note: they are not totally asleep in the grave.
Those added words are clearly wrong. The dead are still dead, and will remain so until the resurrection (a still future event).
Act 2:29 (WEB):
(29) “Brothers, I may tell you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
John 5:28-29 (MKJV):
(28) Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves shall hear His voice,
(29) and shall come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have practiced evil to the resurrection of condemnation.
Note: they are still asleep in death. Daniel 12 (WB):
(1) “At that time Michael will stand up, the great prince who stands for the children of your people; and there will be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. At that time your people will be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book.
(2) Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.