Texts in Conversation
1 Corinthians 15 blends Isaiah and the Greek Septuagint translation of Hosea to mock death. Isaiah shows death defeated, and Hosea calls on death to strike. Paul changes Hosea’s words into a taunt that treats death as an enemy already defeated.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Isaiah 25:8
Hebrew Bible
7 On this mountain he will swallow up the shroud that is over all the peoples, the woven covering that is over all the nations; 8 he will swallow up death permanently. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from every face, and remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. Indeed, the Lord has announced it! 9 At that time they will say, “Look, here is our God! We waited for him, and he delivered us. Here is the Lord! We waited for him. Let’s rejoice and celebrate his deliverance!”
Date: 740–450 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Hosea 13:14
Septuagint
12 Ephraim has framed a conspiracy of unrighteousness, his sin is hidden. 13 Pains as of a woman in labor shall come upon him: he is your son that is not wise, because he shall not stay in the destruction of your children. 14 I will deliver them out of the power of Hades, and will redeem them from death: where is your penalty, death? Hades, where is your sting? comfort is hidden from my eyes. 15 Since he will cause a division among his brothers, the Lord shall bring upon him an east wind from the desert, and shall dry up his veins and quite drain his fountains: he shall dry up his land, and seize all his precious vessels.
Date: 100–1 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
1 Corinthians 15:55
New Testament
53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 Now when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will happen, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 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!
Date: 55–57 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The combined scriptural quotation’s second line in 1 Corinthians 15:55 represents a Pauline adaptation of Hosea 13:14 ... In the Masoretic of Hosea 13:14a, God, who has already decided to destroy the people of Israel (13:9), asks, “Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death?” Consequently, the questions in 13:14b, “Where are your plagues, O death? Where is your destruction, O sheol?” are calling upon a personified death and Sheol to work their destruction upon the people. Similarly, in LXX Hosea 13:14a, God asks, “Shall I rescue them out of the hand of hades and shall I redeem them from death?” so that the questions in 13:14b, “Where is your punishment, O death? Where is your sting, O hades?” are invoking a personified death and Hades to destroy Israel. But in 1 Corinthians 15:55 the questions “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” following upon the first part of the combined quotation in 15:54b, “Death is swallowed up in victory,” function rather as an emphatic taunting of an utterly defeated personified death to work its destructive power. Instead of the Hebrew “plagues” and the LXX’s “punishment”, Paul’s quotation of Hosea 13:14b has “victory”, which strengthens the gezera shava combination with the quotation of Isaiah 25:8a in 1 Corinthians 15:54b. Both quotes thus have not only the word “death” but also the word “victory” in common for their mutual interpretation ..."
John Paul Heil, The Rhetorical Role of Scripture in 1 Corinthians, SBLMS 15 (Atlanta: SBL, 2005), 249–250.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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