The first part of this verse overlaps with verse 53. That is why Good News Bible has started with the phrase “So when this takes place,” and then combined the first two clauses into one: “and the mortal has been changed into the immortal.” However, the overlap in meaning between verses 54 and 53 is even greater than what Good News Bible suggests. The clause When the perishable puts on the imperishable largely repeats verse 53a, and the clause the mortal puts on immortality largely repeats verse 53b, in each case with a change of tense. So logically the two clauses the perishable puts on … the mortal puts on immortality could be omitted. The content of these clauses is included in Good News Bible‘s “when this takes place.” Another way of treating this repetition would be to repeat the word When before the words the mortal; for example, “when the mortal.” The repetition of “when” would indicate the overlap of thought and language. Some common language translations, including earlier editions of Good News Bible, agree with Revised Standard Version in repeating all the material from verse 53. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, however, has simply “when this happens.”
Several scribes omitted the words corresponding to puts on the imperishable, and the mortal, and there are other Greek manuscripts where the whole of verse 54 is omitted. Translations and commentaries generally prefer the longer text, as it seems typical of Paul’s use of repetition, such as that found in verses 42-44.
The saying that is written: in many languages there is clash between “say” and “write.” Good News Bible rightly removes this, and Good News Bible also makes it plain that Paul refers to “scripture,” not to some popular “saying” or proverb.
Paul quotes an otherwise unknown Greek version of Isa 25.8, followed by Hos 13.14. The keywords in both are death and victory.
Swallowed up is figurative language that Good News Bible replaces by the literal language “is destroyed.” Barclay expands the metaphor to make it clearer: “Death is swallowed up, and victory is complete!” In languages where poetry is popular, it may be possible to translate these two lines as poetry. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente set out both quotations as poetry, but also divide the first quotation into two lines.
Death is spelled with a capital in Good News Bible because death is addressed as if it were a person. Translators should consider whether this is natural in their own language, or whether it is better to speak of death in the third person in verse 55 as well as in verse 54. The questions in verse 55 are rhetorical. In some languages these will need to be replaced by statements; for example, “Your victory, Death, has gone.”
Sting: the word for sting can also mean “goad,” as in Acts 26.14, and in Rev 9.10 it refers to a scorpion’s sting, pain, and harm, though death is not suggested. It is impossible to be sure what Paul’s meaning is, since he does not use this word in his writings outside of this passage. It seems evident, then, that the two possible translations are the figurative sting and the nonfigurative “power to hurt” (Good News Bible).
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .