54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

(A)“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 (B)“O death, where is your victory?
    O death, where is your sting?”

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54 And when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the Scripture will be fulfilled that says, “Death is swallowed up in victory (vanquished forever).(A) 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”(B)

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51-57 But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true:

Death swallowed by triumphant Life!
Who got the last word, oh, Death?
Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now?

It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!

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54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die,[a] this Scripture will be fulfilled:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.[b]
55 O death, where is your victory?
    O death, where is your sting?[c]

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Footnotes

  1. 15:54a Some manuscripts add and our mortal bodies have been transformed into immortal bodies.
  2. 15:54b Isa 25:8.
  3. 15:55 Hos 13:14 (Greek version).