1 Corinthians 15:55 → Hosea 13:14

Paul quotes Hosea 13:14 in 1 Corinthians 15:55, transforming a text whose original context is ambiguous — in Hosea, God may be summoning death as an instrument of judgment against unrepentant Ephraim (the Hebrew can also be rendered as a declaration — I will be your plagues, O Death; I will be your destruction, O Sheol — where the Berean Study Bible reads it as a question: "Where, O Death, are your plagues? Where, O Sheol, is your sting?"). Paul, however, reads this as a taunt over death's defeat, turning judgment language into a victory shout: "Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?" (pou sou, thanate, to nikos? pou sou, thanate, to kentron?). The text form departs significantly from both MT and LXX, suggesting Paul is giving an inspired interpretive rendering. This reading is warranted by the inaugurated eschatological framework: what Hosea's audience experienced as judgment, the risen Christ has reversed into triumph. Paul pairs this with Isaiah 25:8 (v. 54, "Death has been swallowed up in victory") to create a composite celebration of death's defeat. The shift from judgment to triumph exemplifies how the resurrection transforms the meaning of OT death-language.