Commentators are divided as to the application of this passage. Taken by itself it appears to be a beautiful promise of the resurrection and of the ultimate annihilation of death and she’ol. However, such an interpretation does not seem appropriate to the context. Verses 12, 13 speak of the inevitability of judgment at hand. Verse 15 continues the subject. Furthermore, the statement, “Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes,” does not appear to accord naturally with the preceding statements; even less so when it is observed that the word translated “repentance” is probably more correctly rendered “compassion.” This consideration has led many expositors to search for a meaning that will accord fully with the context. They point out that by translating the passage as a series of questions instead of a series of positive assertions, complete harmony is achieved. The following translation is based on these considerations: “Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from Death? O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your destruction? Compassion is hid from my eyes” (RSV). Viewed in this way the passage warns that because “the iniquity of Ephraim is bound up,” God will not rescue the people from death; that He is, in fact, calling upon death and she’ol to do their work; and that compassion will be absent from Him while He does what is for Him a “strange work” (Isa. 28:21).

Those who hold that this passage is a promise of the resurrection point out that the words may be a sudden outburst by the prophet in view of the glorious future prospect, and therefore appears to be detached from the context. They interpret the passage, “Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes,” as asserting that God’s merciful purposes for His people will not be changed.

 Paul’s triumphant outburst in 1 Cor. 15:55, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” is perhaps an allusion to Hosea 13:14. The apostle’s words are more like the LXX than like the Hebrew. The corresponding clauses in the LXX read,

“Where is thy punishment, O death? Where is thy sting, O Hades?”