Romans 7

1 Do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?

Are ye ignorant, brethren — for to those knowing law I speak — that the law hath lordship over the man as long as he liveth?

2 For instance, a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.

for the married woman to the living husband hath been bound by law, and if the husband may die, she hath been free from the law of the husband;

3 So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law and is not an adulteress, even if she marries another man.

so, then, the husband being alive, an adulteress she shall be called if she may become another man's; and if the husband may die, she is free from the law, so as not to be an adulteress, having become another man's.

4 Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God.

So that, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of the Christ, for your becoming another's, who out of the dead was raised up, that we might bear fruit to God;

5 For when we lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death.

for when we were in the flesh, the passions of the sins, that [are] through the law, were working in our members, to bear fruit to the death;

6 But now, having died to what bound us, we have been released from the law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

and now we have ceased from the law, that being dead in which we were held, so that we may serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter.

7 What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. For I would not have been aware of coveting if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”

What, then, shall we say? the law [is] sin? let it not be! but the sin I did not know except through law, for also the covetousness I had not known if the law had not said:

8 But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead.

'Thou shalt not covet;' and the sin having received an opportunity, through the command, did work in me all covetousness — for apart from law sin is dead.

9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.

And I was alive apart from law once, and the command having come, the sin revived, and I died;

10 So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death.

and the command that [is] for life, this was found by me for death;

11 For sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through the commandment put me to death.

for the sin, having received an opportunity, through the command, did deceive me, and through it did slay [me];

12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

so that the law, indeed, [is] holy, and the command holy, and righteous, and good.

13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Certainly not! But in order that sin might be exposed as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

That which is good then, to me hath it become death? let it not be! but the sin, that it might appear sin, through the good, working death to me, that the sin might become exceeding sinful through the command,

14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.

for we have known that the law is spiritual, and I am fleshly, sold by the sin;

15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do.

for that which I work, I do not acknowledge; for not what I will, this I practise, but what I hate, this I do.

16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I admit that the law is good.

And if what I do not will, this I do, I consent to the law that [it is] good,

17 In that case, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

and now it is no longer I that work it, but the sin dwelling in me,

18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

for I have known that there doth not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh, good: for to will is present with me, and to work that which is right I do not find,

19 For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do.

for the good that I will, I do not; but the evil that I do not will, this I practise.

20 And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

And if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that work it, but the sin that is dwelling in me.

21 So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

I find, then, the law, that when I desire to do what is right, with me the evil is present,

22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.

for I delight in the law of God according to the inward man,

23 But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me.

and I behold another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of the sin that [is] in my members.

24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

A wretched man I [am]! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?

25 Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord; so then, I myself indeed with the mind do serve the law of God, and with the flesh, the law of sin.