These two questions have a mocking tone to them. They express the joy of the resurrection. This time Paul is loosely quoting from Hosea, who, pronouncing God’s judgment over his idolatrous people, asked, O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting?
(Hosea 13:14 according to the Septuagint). Paul changes the word plagues
to victory,
thereby combining the quotations of 1 Corinthians 15:54–55 into one harmonious whole.
Death is personified as a stinging creature, perhaps a scorpion (see Revelation 9:10). In Hosea’s prophecy God calls on death to come and punish his people for their sin. In Paul’s use of Hosea’s words, death is mocked because it has no more penalty and no more sting. The reason for death’s ineffectiveness will be explained in the following verse.
55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”