How does Hosea 13:14 connect with 1 Corinthians 15:55 on resurrection?

Setting the Scene

• Hosea 13:14 was spoken to the northern kingdom of Israel in the eighth century BC, just before exile.

• God’s people faced judgment, yet the Lord promised a future ransom “from the power of Sheol.”

• 1 Corinthians 15 was written to believers in Corinth, proclaiming Christ’s bodily resurrection and the coming resurrection of all who belong to Him.

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Text in Focus

Hosea 13:14

“I will ransom them from the power of Sheol;

I will redeem them from Death.

O Death, where are your plagues?

O Sheol, where is your sting?

Compassion is hidden from My eyes.”

1 Corinthians 15:55

“Where, O Death, is your victory?

Where, O Death, is your sting?”

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Key Words and Phrases Shared

• Death/Sheol (grave)

• Plagues/ sting

• Ransom, redeem, victory—implied through the removal of death’s weapons

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Progress from Promise to Fulfillment

1. Hosea prophesies a future ransoming of God’s people from Sheol.

2. The Lord Himself declares victory over Death, taunting its powerless condition.

3. Centuries later, Christ dies and rises (1 Corinthians 15:3–4), enacting the promised ransom.

4. Paul quotes Hosea, announcing that Jesus’ resurrection turns the prophecy into present reality for believers (1 Corinthians 15:20–22).

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Theological Threads

• Literal deliverance: Hosea speaks of actual rescue from the grave, not mere figurative renewal (see Isaiah 25:8; Job 19:25–27).

• Christ our ransom: Jesus fulfills “I will ransom” (Mark 10:45; 1 Timothy 2:6).

• Defanged Death: “sting” (Gr. kentron) mirrors Hosea’s “plagues”—both describe Death’s lethal power now neutralized (Hebrews 2:14).

• Future resurrection: Paul links Hosea to the final resurrection of all in Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:14), guaranteeing that the grave’s defeat is universal and physical.

• Eternal perspective: Revelation 1:18 shows the risen Christ holding “the keys of Death and Hades,” echoing Hosea’s promise that believers will be redeemed from the realm of the dead.

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Practical Takeaways

• Confidence: Because God literally keeps His word, the grave is not the end (John 11:25–26).

• Hope in loss: At every burial, Hosea 13:14 and 1 Corinthians 15:55 remind us Death has lost its power.

• Victorious living: Freed from Death’s sting, believers serve the Lord “steadfast, immovable” (1 Corinthians 15:58).