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Read the Bible

Good News Translation

1 Corinthians 15:51

Listen to this secret truth: we shall not all die, but when the last trumpet sounds, we shall all be changed in an instant, as quickly as the blinking of an eye. For when the trumpet sounds, the dead will be raised, never to die again, and we shall all be changed.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Body;   Death;   Immortality;   Resurrection;   Righteous;   Scofield Reference Index - Christ;   Resurrection;   Thompson Chain Reference - Dead, the;   Great;   Mortality-Immortality;   Mysteries, Great;   Mysteries-Revelations;   Resurrection;   Sleep;   Sleep-Wakefulness;   The Topic Concordance - Change;   Corruption;   Death;   Mystery;   Resurrection;   Victory/overcoming;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Resurrection, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Death;   Mystery;   Soul;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Body;   Death;   Funeral;   Humanity, humankind;   Jesus christ;   Life;   Millennium;   Mystery;   Paul;   Sleep;   Soul;   Spirit;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Corinthians, First and Second, Theology of;   Flesh;   Hope;   Immortality;   Intermediate State;   Sleep;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Annihilation;   Conflagration;   Mystery;   Omnipotence of God;   Resurrection;   Resurrection of Christ;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Judgment, the Final;   Mystery;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Enoch;   Mystery;   Resurrection;   Stephen;   Thousand Years;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Corruption;   Death;   Hope;   Imperishable;   Life;   Resurrection of Jesus Christ;   Sleep;   1 Corinthians;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Corinthians, First Epistle to the;   Eschatology;   Ethics;   Mystery;   Parousia;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Cloud ;   Marriage;   Mystery ;   Parousia;   Presence;   Sleep ;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Incorruption,;   Mystery;   Prophets, the;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Mystery;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Tabernacle, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Change;   Death;   Immortal;   Millennium: Premillennial View;   Mystery;   Parousia;   Translation;  

Devotionals:

- Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life - Devotion for September 8;   Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for May 18;   Every Day Light - Devotion for December 19;  

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
But listen, I tell you this secret: We will not all die, but we will all be changed.
Revised Standard Version
Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Beholde I shewe you a mystery. We shall not all slepe: but we shall all be chaunged
Hebrew Names Version
Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
New American Standard Bible
Behold, I am telling you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
New Century Version
But look! I tell you this secret: We will not all sleep in death, but we will all be changed.
Update Bible Version
Look, I tell you a mystery: We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed,
Webster's Bible Translation
Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
English Standard Version
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
World English Bible
Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
Weymouth's New Testament
I tell you a truth hitherto kept secret: we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Lo! Y seie to you priuyte of hooli thingis. And alle we schulen rise ayen, but not alle we schulen be chaungid;
English Revised Version
Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
Berean Standard Bible
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-
Contemporary English Version
I will explain a mystery to you. Not every one of us will die, but we will all be changed.
Amplified Bible
Listen very carefully, I tell you a mystery [a secret truth decreed by God and previously hidden, but now revealed]; we will not all sleep [in death], but we will all be [completely] changed [wondrously transformed],
American Standard Version
Behold, I tell you a mystery: We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed,
Bible in Basic English
See, I am giving you the revelation of a secret: we will not all come to the sleep of death, but we will all be changed.
Complete Jewish Bible
Look, I will tell you a secret — not all of us will die! But we will all be changed!
Darby Translation
Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed,
International Standard Version
Let me tell you a secret. Not all of us will die, but all of us will be changedPhilippians 3:21; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17;">[xr] -
Etheridge Translation
Behold, I tell you the mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we all shall be changed:
Murdock Translation
Lo, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
King James Version (1611)
Behold, I shew you a mysterie: we shall not all sleepe, but wee shall all be changed,
New Living Translation
But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed!
New Life Bible
For sure, I am telling you a secret. We will not all die, but we will all be changed.
New Revised Standard
Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed,
Geneva Bible (1587)
Behold, I shewe you a secret thing, We shall not all sleepe, but we shall all be changed,
George Lamsa Translation
Behold, I tell you a mystery; We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed,
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Lo! a sacred secret, unto you, do I declare: - we shall not, all, sleep, but we shall, all, be changed, -
Douay-Rheims Bible
Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall all indeed rise again: but we shall not all be changed.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Beholde, I shewe you a misterie. We shall not all slepe: but we shall all be chaunged.
Christian Standard Bible®
Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed,
King James Version
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
Lexham English Bible
Behold, I tell you a mystery: we will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed,
Literal Translation
Behold, I speak a mystery to you: we shall not all fall asleep, but we shall all be changed.
Young's Literal Translation
lo, I tell you a secret; we indeed shall not all sleep, and we all shall be changed;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Beholde, I saye vnto you a mystery: We shal not all slepe, but we shall all be chaunged,
Mace New Testament (1729)
I shall now tell you a very great secret: we shall not all of us sleep, but we shall all be changed,
THE MESSAGE
But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I'll probably never fully understand. We're not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it's over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we'll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true: Death swallowed by triumphant Life! Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who's afraid of you now? It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!
New English Translation
Listen, I will tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—
New King James Version
Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed--
Simplified Cowboy Version
But listen to this! Here's a secret, not all of us will die, but we will all be changed.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
Legacy Standard Bible
Behold, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,

Contextual Overview

51Listen to this secret truth: we shall not all die, but when the last trumpet sounds, we shall all be changed in an instant, as quickly as the blinking of an eye. For when the trumpet sounds, the dead will be raised, never to die again, and we shall all be changed. 53 For what is mortal must be changed into what is immortal; what will die must be changed into what cannot die. 54 So when this takes place, and the mortal has been changed into the immortal, then the scripture will come true: "Death is destroyed; victory is complete!" 55 "Where, Death, is your victory? Where, Death, is your power to hurt?" 56 Death gets its power to hurt from sin, and sin gets its power from the Law. 57 But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I show: 1 Corinthians 2:7, 1 Corinthians 4:1, 1 Corinthians 13:2, Ephesians 1:9, Ephesians 3:3, Ephesians 5:32

We shall not: 1 Corinthians 15:6, 1 Corinthians 15:18, 1 Corinthians 15:20, 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17

changed: Philippians 3:21

Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 7:12 - sleep Job 14:14 - will I wait Daniel 12:2 - many Matthew 13:11 - mysteries Matthew 27:52 - slept John 11:11 - sleepeth Acts 7:60 - he fell Romans 8:11 - he that raised 1 Corinthians 11:30 - sleep 1 Corinthians 14:2 - howbeit 1 Corinthians 15:57 - giveth 1 Thessalonians 4:15 - which are 1 Thessalonians 4:16 - and the 1 Peter 4:5 - that

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Behold, I show you a mystery,.... Or a secret, which could never have been discovered by reason, or the light of nature, and what is of pure revelation; and which perhaps the apostle became acquainted with, when he was caught up into the third heaven; and is what is never made mention of by any prophet, or apostle, but himself: he prefaces the account of it in this manner, partly to show the great respect he had for these Corinthians, that he treated them as his bosom friends, to whom he communicated his secrets; and partly to excite their curiosity and attention:

we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed; some copies read, "we shall all rise again, but we shall not all be changed", and so the Vulgate Latin version; according to which the sense is, all will rise again, both just and unjust, but all will not be changed into a state of glory; but the apostle is only speaking of the saints, of whom it is true, not only that they shall rise again, but shall be changed from corruption to incorruption; wherefore this cannot be a true reading: others read the words thus, "we shall all die, but we shall not all be changed"; and so the Ethiopic version and the Alexandrian copy seem to have read; which is just the reverse of the text, and arises from a wrong sense of Hebrews 9:27 where it is not said, it is "appointed unto all men", but "unto men once to die"; from which rule there has been some exceptions, as the instances of Enoch and Elijah show; and there will be more at the time of Christ's coming, for all will not sleep in their graves, or die, for death is meant by sleeping; they will not die as men ordinarily do, and continue under the power of death, but they will be changed at once from corruption to incorruption, from dishonour to glory, from weakness to power, from being natural to be spiritual bodies; this change all the saints will undergo, whether dead or alive, at Christ's coming; the dead by a resurrection from the dead, and the living by a secret and sudden power, which will at once render their bodies, without separating them from their souls, immortal and glorious: and this reading and sense are confirmed by the Syriac and Arabic versions.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Behold I show you - This commences the third subject of inquiry in the chapter, the question, what will become of those who are alive when the Lord Jesus shall return to raise the dead? This was an obvious inquiry, and the answer was, perhaps, supposed to be difficult. Paul answers it directly, and says that they will undergo an instantaneous change, which will make them like the dead that shall be raised.

A mystery - On the meaning of this word, see the note on 1 Corinthians 2:7. The word here does not mean anything which was in its nature unintelligible, but that which to them had been hitherto unknown. “I now communicate to you a truth which has not been brought into the discussion, and in regard to which no communication has been made to you.” On this subject there had been no revelation. Though the Pharisees held that the dead would rise, yet they do not seem to have made any statement in regard to the living who should remain when the dead should rise. Nor, perhaps, had the subject occupied the attention of the apostles; nor had there been any direct communication on it from the Lord Jesus himself. Paul then here says, that he was about to communicate a great truth which till then had been unknown, and to resolve a great inquiry on which there had as yet been no revelation.

We shall not all sleep - We Christians; grouping all together who then lived and should live afterward, for his discussion has relation to them all. The following remarks may, perhaps, remove some of the difficulty which attends the interpretation of this passage. The objection which is made to it is, that Paul expected to live until the Lord Jesus should return; that he, therefore, expected that the world would soon end, and that in this he was mistaken, and could not be inspired. To this, we may reply:

(1) He is speaking of Christians as such - of the whole church that had been redeemed - of the entire mass that should enter heaven; and he groups them all together, and connects himself with them, and says, “We shall not die; we Christians, including the whole church, shall not all die,” etc. That he did not refer only to those whom he was then addressing, is apparent from the whole discussion. The argument relates to Christians - to the church at large; and the affirmation here has reference to that church considered as one church that was to be raised up on the last Day.

(2) That Paul did not expect that the Lord Jesus would soon come, and that the world would soon come to an end, is apparent from a similar place in the Epistle to the Thessalonians. In 1 Thessalonians 4:15, he uses language remarkably similar to that which is used here: “We which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord,” etc. This language was interpreted by the Thessalonians as teaching that the world would soon come to an end, and the effect had been to produce a state of alarm. Paul was, therefore, at special pains to show in his Second Epistle to them, that he did not mean any such thing. He showed them 2 Thessalonians 2:0 that the end of the world was not near; that very important events were to occur before the world would come to an end; and that his language did not imply any expectation on his part that the world would soon terminate, or that the Lord Jesus would soon come.

(3) Parallel expressions occur in the other writers of the New Testament, and with a similar signification. Thus, John 1 John 2:18 says, “It is the last time;” compare Hebrews 1:2. But the meaning of this is not that the world would soon come to an end. The prophets spoke of a period which they called “the last days” (Isaiah 2:2; Micah 4:1; in Hebrew, “the after days”), as the period in which the Messiah would live and reign. By it they meant the dispensation which should be the last; that under which the world would close; the reign of the Messiah, which would be the last economy of human things. But it did not follow that this was to be a short period; or that it might not be longer than any one of the former, or than all the former put together. This was that which John spoke of as the last time.

(4) I do not know that the proper doctrine of inspiration suffers, if we admit that the apostles were ignorant of the exact time when the world would close; or even that in regard to the precise period when that would take place, they might be in error. The following considerations may be suggested on this subject, showing that the claim to inspiration did not extend to the knowledge of this fact:

(a) That they were not omniscient, and there is no more absurdity in supposing that they were ignorant on this subject than in regard to any other.

(b) Inspiration extended to the order of future events, and not to the thees. There is in the Scriptures no statement of the time when the world would close. Future events were made to pass before the minds of the prophets, as in a landscape. The order of the images may be distinctly marked, but the times may not be designated. And even events which may occur in fact at distant periods, may in vision appear to be near each other; as in a landscape, objects which are in fact separated by distant intervals, like the ridges of a mountain, may appeal to lie close to each other.

(c) The Saviour expressly said, that it was not designed that they should know when future events would occur. Thus, after his ascension, in answer to an inquiry whether he then would restore the kingdom to Israel, he said Acts 1:7, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power.” See the note on that verse.

(d) The Saviour said that even he himself, as man, was ignorant in regard to the exact time in which future events would occur. “But of that day, and that hour, knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father;” Mark 13:32.

(e) The apostles were in fact ignorant, and mistaken in regard to, at least, the time of the occurrence of one future event, the death of John; John 21:23. There is, therefore, no departure from the proper doctrine of inspiration, in supposing that the apostles were not inspired on these subjects, and that they might be ignorant like others. The proper order of events they state truly and exactly; the exact time God did not, for wise reasons, intend to make known.

Shall not all sleep - Shall not all die; see the note at 1 Corinthians 11:30.

But we shall all be changed - There is considerable variety in the reading of this passage. The Vulgate reads it, “We shall all indeed rise, but we shall not all be changed.” Some Greek manuscripts read it, “We shall all sleep, but we shall not all be changed.” Others, as the Vulgate, “We shall all rise, but we shall not all be changed.” But the present Greek text contains, doubtless, the true reading; and the sense is, that all who are alive at the coming of the Lord Jesus shall undergo such a change as to fit them for their new abode in heaven; or such as shall make them like those who shall be raised from the dead. This change will be instantaneous 1 Corinthians 15:52, for it is evident that God can as easily change the living as he can raise the dead; and as the affairs of the world will then have come to an end, there will be no necessity that those who are then alive should be removed by death; nor would it be proper that they should go down to lie any time in the grave. The ordinary laws, therefore, by which people are removed to eternity, will not operate in regard to them, and they will be removed at once to their new abode.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 51. I show you a mystery — That is, a thing which you have never known before. But what is this mystery? Why, that we shall not all sleep; we shall not all die; but we shall all be changed: of this the Jews had not distinct notions. For, as flesh and blood cannot inherit glory, and all shall not be found dead at the day of judgment, then all must be changed-undergo such a change that their bodies may become spiritual, like the bodies of those who shall be raised from the dead.


 
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