45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”[a];(A) the last Adam,(B) a life-giving spirit.(C) 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.(D) 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth;(E) the second man is of heaven.(F) 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.(G) 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man,(H) so shall we[b] bear the image of the heavenly man.(I)

50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood(J) cannot inherit the kingdom of God,(K) nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.(L) 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery:(M) We will not all sleep,(N) but we will all be changed(O) 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound,(P) the dead(Q) will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable(R) must clothe itself with the imperishable,(S) and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”[c](T)

55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”[d](U)

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 15:45 Gen. 2:7
  2. 1 Corinthians 15:49 Some early manuscripts so let us
  3. 1 Corinthians 15:54 Isaiah 25:8
  4. 1 Corinthians 15:55 Hosea 13:14

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