So will it be with the resurrection of the dead: What is sown is perishable; it is raised imperishable.
Parallel translations
- WEB So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown perishable; it is raised imperishable.
- KJV So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
- NKJV So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.
- NASB So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body;
- NLT It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The body is sown perishable but raised imperishable. It matters because resurrection frees believers' bodies from decay forever.
Overview
Applying the seed analogy, Paul contrasts the mortal body sown in burial with the imperishable body raised in resurrection. The corruption that marks present life gives way to bodies that can never decay. This is the first of several glorious transformations awaiting those who belong to Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Dan 12:3Then the wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever.
- Matt 13:43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
- Phil 3:20–21But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
- Rom 8:21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
- 1 Pet 1:4and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you,
- 1 Cor 15:50–54Now I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
- Acts 2:27because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay.
- Acts 2:31Foreseeing this, David spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His body see decay.
- Acts 13:34–37In fact, God raised Him from the dead, never to see decay. As He has said: ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’
- Ps 16:10For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay.
- Job 17:14and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
- Rom 1:23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
- Ps 49:14Like sheep they are destined for Sheol. Death will be their shepherd. The upright will rule them in the morning, and their form will decay in Sheol, far from their lofty abode.
- Isa 38:17Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
- Gen 3:19By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
- Luke 20:35–36But those who are considered worthy to share in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage.
- Ps 49:9that he should live on forever and not see decay.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 15:42 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.