Where, O Death, Is Your Victory?

(Hosea 13:9–14)

50 Now I declare [to you], brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit [the] kingdom of God, nor {does} the perishable inherit the imperishable.

51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: {We will} not all sleep, but we will all be changed—52 in an instant, in [the] twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must be clothed[fn] with [the] imperishable, and the mortal [with] immortality.

54 When the perishable has been clothed with [the] imperishable and the mortal [with] immortality,[fn] then the saying that is written will come to pass: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”[fn]

55 “Where, O Death, [is] your sting?

Where, O Hades, [is] your victory?”[fn]

56 The sting of death [is] sin, and the power of sin [is] the law. 57 But thanks [be] to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast [and] immovable. Always excel in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in [the] Lord is not in vain.