Romans 7
1 Surely, friends, you know (for I am speaking to people who know what Law means) that Law has power over a person only as long as they lives.
Ndugu zangu (sasa ninasema na wale wanaoijua sheria), je, hamjui ya kwamba sheria ina mamlaka tu juu ya mtu wakati akiwa hai?
2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband while he is living; but, if her husband dies, she is set free from the law that bound her to him.
Kwa mfano, mwanamke aliyeolewa amefungwa kwa mumewe wakati akiwa hai, lakini yule mume akifa, yule mwanamke amefunguliwa kutoka sheria ya ndoa.
3 If, then, during her husband’s lifetime, she unites herself to another man, she will be called an adulteress; but, if her husband dies, the law has no further hold on her, nor, if she unites herself to another man, is she an adulteress.
Hivyo basi, kama huyo mwanamke ataolewa na mwanaume mwingine wakati mumewe akiwa bado yuko hai, ataitwa mzinzi. Lakini kama mumewe akifa, mwanamke huyo hafungwi tena na sheria ya ndoa, naye akiolewa na mtu mwingine haitwi mzinzi.
4 And so with you, my friends; as far as the Law was concerned, you underwent death in the crucified body of the Christ, so that you might be united to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that our lives might bear fruit for God.
Vivyo hivyo, ndugu zangu, ninyi mmeifia sheria kwa njia ya mwili wa Kristo, ili mweze kuwa mali ya mwingine, yeye ambaye alifufuliwa kutoka kwa wafu, ili tupate kuzaa matunda kwa Mungu.
5 When we were living merely earthly lives, our sinful passions, aroused by the Law, were active in every part of our bodies, with the result that our lives bore fruit for death.
Kwa maana tulipokuwa tunatawaliwa na asili ya dhambi, tamaa za dhambi zilizochochewa na sheria zilikuwa zikitenda kazi katika miili yetu, hivyo tulizaa matunda ya mauti.
6 But now we are set free from the Law, because we are dead to that which once kept us under restraint; and so we serve under new, spiritual conditions, and not under old, written regulations.
Lakini sasa, kwa kufia kile kilichokuwa kimetufunga kwanza, tumewekwa huru kutokana na sheria ili tutumike katika njia mpya ya Roho, wala si katika njia ya zamani ya sheria iliyoandikwa.
7 What are we to say, then? That Law and sin are the same thing? Heaven forbid! On the contrary, I should not have learned what sin is, had not it been for Law. If the Law did not say ‘You must not covet,’ I should not know what it is to covet.
Tuseme nini basi? Kwamba sheria ni dhambi? La, hasha! Lakini, isingekuwa kwa sababu ya sheria, nisingalijua dhambi. Nisingalijua kutamani ni nini kama sheria haikusema, “Usitamani.”
8 But sin took advantage of the commandment to arouse in me every form of covetousness, for where there is no consciousness of Law sin shows no sign of life.
Lakini dhambi kwa kupata nafasi katika amri, hii ikazaa ndani yangu kila aina ya tamaa. Kwa maana pasipo sheria, dhambi imekufa.
9 There was a time when I myself, unconscious of Law, was alive; but when the commandment was brought home to me, sin sprang into life, while I died!
Wakati fulani nilikuwa hai pasipo sheria, lakini amri ilipokuja, dhambi ikawa hai, nami nikafa.
10 The commandment that should have meant life I found to result in death!
Nikaona kwamba ile amri iliyokusudiwa kuleta uzima, ilileta mauti.
11 Sin took advantage of the commandment to deceive me, and used it to bring about my death.
Kwa maana dhambi kwa kupata nafasi katika amri, ilinidanganya, na kupitia katika hiyo amri, ikaniua.
12 And so the Law is holy, and each commandment is also holy, and just, and good.
Hivyo basi, sheria yenyewe ni takatifu, na amri ni takatifu na ya haki, tena ni njema.
13 Did, then, a thing, which in itself was good, involve death in my case? Heaven forbid! It was sin that involved death; so that, by its use of what I regarded as good to bring about my death, its true nature might appear; and in this way the commandment showed how intensely sinful sin is.
Je, kile kilicho chema basi kilikuwa mauti kwangu? La, hasha! Lakini ili dhambi itambuliwe kuwa ni dhambi, ilileta mauti ndani yangu kupitia kile kilichokuwa chema, ili kwa njia ya amri dhambi izidi kuwa mbaya kupita kiasi.
14 We know that the Law is spiritual, but I am earthly – sold into slavery to sin.
Kwa maana tunajua kwamba sheria ni ya kiroho, lakini mimi ni wa kimwili nikiwa nimeuzwa kwenye utumwa wa dhambi.
15 I do not understand my own actions. For I am so far from habitually doing what I want to do, that I find myself doing the thing that I hate.
Sielewi nitendalo, kwa maana lile ninalotaka kulitenda, silitendi, lakini ninatenda lile ninalolichukia.
16 But when I do what I want not to do, I am admitting that the Law is right.
Basi kama ninatenda lile nisilotaka kutenda, ni kwamba ninakubali kuwa sheria ni njema.
17 This being so, the action is no longer my own, but is done by the sin which is within me.
Lakini, kwa kweli si mimi tena nitendaye lile nisilotaka bali ni ile dhambi ikaayo ndani yangu.
18 I know that there is nothing good in me – I mean in my earthly nature. For, although it is easy for me to want to do right, to act rightly is not easy.
Kwa maana ninafahamu kwamba hakuna jema lolote likaalo ndani yangu, yaani, katika asili yangu ya dhambi. Kwa kuwa nina shauku ya kutenda lililo jema, lakini siwezi kulitenda.
19 I fail to do the good thing that I want to do, but the bad thing that I want not to do – that I habitually do.
Sitendi lile jema nitakalo kutenda, bali lile baya nisilolitaka, ndilo nitendalo.
20 But, when I do the thing that I want not to do, the action is no longer my own, but is done by the sin which is within me.
Basi kama ninatenda lile nisilotaka kutenda, si mimi tena nifanyaye hivyo, bali ni ile dhambi ikaayo ndani yangu.
21 This, then, is the law that I find – when I want to do right, wrong presents itself!
Hivyo naiona sheria ikitenda kazi. Ninapotaka kutenda jema, jambo baya liko papo hapo.
22 At heart I delight in the Law of God;
Kwa maana katika utu wangu wa ndani naifurahia sheria ya Mungu.
23 but throughout my body I see a different law, one which is in conflict with the law accepted by my reason, and which endeavors to make me a prisoner to that law of sin which exists throughout my body.
Lakini ninaona kuna sheria nyingine inayotenda kazi katika viungo vya mwili wangu inayopigana vita dhidi ya ile sheria ya akili yangu. Sheria hii inanifanya mateka wa ile sheria ya dhambi inayofanya kazi katika viungo vya mwili wangu.
24 Miserable man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body that is bringing me to this death?
Ole wangu mimi maskini! Ni nani atakayeniokoa na mwili huu wa mauti?
25 Thank God, there is deliverance through Jesus Christ, our Lord! Well then, for myself, with my reason I serve the Law of God, but with my earthly nature the Law of sin.
Ashukuriwe Mungu kwa njia ya Yesu Kristo Bwana wetu! Hivyo basi, mimi mwenyewe kwa akili zangu ni mtumwa wa sheria ya Mungu, lakini katika asili ya dhambi ni mtumwa wa sheria ya dhambi.
