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¹ And I make known to you, my brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, and which ye received, and in which ye stand,² and by which ye have life. In what terms I preached to you, ye remember; unless ye have believed in vain.³ For I delivered to you from the first, as I had received it; that the Messiah died on account of our sins, as it is written:⁴ and that he was buried and arose on the third day, as it is written:⁵ and that he was seen by Cephas; and after him, by the twelve:⁶ and after that, he was seen by more than five hundred brethren at once; many of whom survive at the present time, and some of them sleep.⁷ And subsequently to this, he was seen by James; and after him, by all the legates.⁸ And last of them all, he was seen by me, as it were by an abortion.⁹ I am the least of the legates; and am not worthy to be called a legate; because I persecuted the church of God.¹⁰ But by the grace of God, I am what I am: and his grace, that was in me, was not in vain; but I labored more than they all:-not I, but his grace that was with me.¹¹ Whether I, therefore, or whether they, so we preached; and so ye believed.

¹² And if the Messiah is proclaimed, as rising from the dead; how is it that there are some among you, who say, There is no reviviscence of the dead?¹³ And if there is no reviviscence of the dead, the Messiah also hath not risen.¹⁴ And if the Messiah hath not risen, our preaching is vain, and your faith also vain.¹⁵ And we too are found false witnesses of God; for we have testified concerning God, that he raised up the Messiah, when he did not raise him up.¹⁶ For, if the dead will not arise, the Messiah also hath not risen.¹⁷ And if the Messiah rose not, your faith is inane; and ye are yet in your sins:¹⁸ and also, doubtless, they who have fallen asleep in the Messiah, have perished.¹⁹ And if, in this life only, we have hope in the Messiah, we are the most miserable of all men.

²⁰ But now the Messiah hath risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.²¹ And as by a man came death, so also by a man came the reviviscence of the dead.²² For as it was by Adam, that all men die, so also by the Messiah they all live:²³ every one in his order; the Messiah was the first-fruits; afterwards, they that are the Messiah's, at his coming.²⁴ And then will be the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God the Father; when every prince, and every sovereign, and all powers shall have come to naught.²⁵ For he is to reign, until he shall put all his enemies under his feet.²⁶ And the last enemy, death, will be abolished.²⁷ For he hath subjected all under his feet. But when he said, that every thing is subjected to him, it is manifest that he is excepted, who subjected all to him.²⁸ And when all shall be subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subject to him who subjected all to him, so that God will be all in all.²⁹ Otherwise, what shall they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not? Why are they baptized for the dead?³⁰ And why also do we stand every hour in peril?³¹ I protest, my brethren, by your exultation, which is mine in our Lord Jesus the Messiah, that I die daily.³² If, as amongst men, I was cast to wild beasts at Ephesus, what did it profit me, if the dead rise not? " Let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die."³³ Be not deceived; " Evil stories corrupt well-disposed minds."³⁴ Let your hearts be righteously excited, and sin not: for there are some, in whom is not the love of God: it is to your shame, I say it.

³⁵ But some one of you may say: How will the dead arise? and with what body will they come forth?³⁶ Foolish man ! The seed which thou sowest, is not quickened, unless it die.³⁷ And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not the body that is to be, but the naked kernel of wheat or barley, or of the other grains:³⁸ and God giveth it a body, as he pleaseth; and to each of the grains its natural body.³⁹ And every body is not alike; for the body of a man is one thing, and that of a beast is another, and that of a bird is another, and that of a fish is another.⁴⁰ 40 And there are bodies celestial, and bodies terrestrial; but the glory of the celestial [fn] is one, and that of the terrestrial is another. ⁴¹ And the glory of the sun is one thing, and the glory of the moon is another, and the glory of the stars is another; and one star exceedeth another star in glory.⁴² So also in the reviviscence of the dead. They are sown in corruption, they arise without corruption:⁴³ they are sown in dishonor, they arise in glory: they are sown in weakness, they arise in power:⁴⁴ it is sown an animal body, it ariseth a spiritual body. For there is a body of the animal life, and there is a body of the spirit.⁴⁵ 45 So also is it written: " Adam, the first man, became a living soul;" the second Adam [fn] a quickening spirit. ⁴⁶ And the spiritual was not first; but the animal, and then the spiritual.⁴⁷ The first man was of dust from the earth; the second man was the Lord from heaven.⁴⁸ As he was of the dust, so also those who are of the dust; and as was he who was from heaven, so also are the heavenly.⁴⁹ And as we have worn the likeness of him from the dust, so shall we wear the likeness of him from heaven.⁵⁰ But this I say, my brethren that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven: neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

⁵¹ Lo, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,⁵² suddenly, as in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, when it shall sound; and the dead will arise, without corruption; and we shall be changed.⁵³ For this which is corruptible, is to put on incorruption; and that which dieth, will put on immortality.⁵⁴ And when this that is corruptible, shall put on incorruption, and this that dieth, immortality; then will take place the word that is written, " Death is absorbed in victory."⁵⁵ Where is thy sting, O death? And where is thy victory, O grave?⁵⁶ Now the sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, that giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

⁵⁸ Wherefore, my brethren and my beloved, be ye steadfast, and be not vacillating; but be ye at all times abundant in the work of the Lord; seeing ye know, that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.