Meaning, commentary and cross references
1 Corinthians 15:55
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”In other translations
KJV · King James Version
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
NIV · New International Version
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
WEB · World English Bible
“Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?”
What does 1 Corinthians 15:55 mean?
John Gill · Exposition of the Entire Bible, on 1 Corinthians 15:55
O death, where is thy sting?.... These words, with the following clause, are taken out of Hosea 13:14 and that they belong to the times of the Messiah, the ancient Jews acknowledge; and the Chaldee paraphrase interprets them of the Logos, or Word of God, rendering them thus, "my Word shall be among them to kill, and my Word to destroy;'' wherefore the apostle is not to be charged with a misapplication of them, nor with a perversion of them, as he is by the Jew (s): in the prophet they are thus read, "O death, I will be thy plagues, O grave, I will be thy destruction"; between which, and the apostle's citation of them, there is some difference; the word which we render in both clauses, "I…
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63). Public domain. Digital text: Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org).
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible, on 1 Corinthians 15:51–57
They will glory over death as a vanquished enemy, and insult this great and terrible destroyer: "O death! where is thy sting? Where is now thy sting, thy power to hurt? What mischief hast thou done us? We are dead; but behold we live again, and shall die no more.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706–21; Romans–Revelation completed by Nonconformist ministers). Public domain. Digital text: Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org).
John Calvin · Commentaries, on 1 Corinthians 15:51–58
55. Ubi, mors, tuus aculeus? Ubi tua, inferne, victoria? 56. The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 56.
John Calvin, Commentaries (Calvin Translation Society English text). Public domain. Digital text: Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org).
Context: 1 Corinthians 15:52–58 (WEB)
52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. 53For this perishable body must become imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54But when this perishable body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55“Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?” 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Cross references
- Hosea 13:14
I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death! Death, where are your plagues? Sheol, where is your destruction? “Compassion will be hidden from my eyes.
- Psalms 89:48
- Romans 5:14
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come.
- Acts 2:27
because you will not leave my soul in Hades, neither will you allow your Holy One to see decay.
- Psalms 49:8–15
- Ecclesiastes 2:15–16
Then I said in my heart, “As it happens to the fool, so will it happen even to me; and why was I then more wise?” Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity.
- Acts 9:5
He said, “Who are you, Lord?” The Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
- Ecclesiastes 9:5–6
For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten.