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.
Au hamjui, ndugu zangu (kwa kuwa naongea na watu wanaoijua sheria), kwamba sheria humtawala mtu anapokuwa 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 maana mwanamke aliyeolewa amefungwa na sheria kwa yule mme wake anapokuwa hai, lakini ikiwa mme wake atakufa, atakuwa amewekwa huru 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, wakati mme wake angali akiishi, ikiwa anaishi na mwanamme mwingine, ataitwa mzinzi. Lakini ikiwa mme wake akifa, yuko huru dhidi ya sheria, hivyo hatakuwa mzinzi ikiwa anaishi na mwanamme mwingine.
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.
Kwa hiyo, ndugu zangu, ninyi pia mlifanywa wafu kwa sheria kwa njia ya mwili wa Kristo. Imekuwa hivi ili mpate kuunganishwa na mwingine, kwake yeye ambaye alifufuliwa kutoka wafu ili tuweze kumzalia Mungu matunda.
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 katika hali ya mwili, tamaa za dhambi ziliamshwa katika viungo vyetu kwa njia ya sheria na kuizalia mauti matunda.
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 tumefunguliwa kutoka katika sheria. Tumeifia ile hali iliyotupinga. Ili sisi tupate kutumika katika hali mpya ya Roho, na si katika hali ya zamani ya andiko.
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.
Tusemeje basi? Sheria ni dhambi? La hasha. Hata hivyo, nisingelitambua dhambi, isingelikuwa kwa njia ya sheria. Kwa kuwa nisingelijua kutamani kama sheria isingelisema, “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 ilipata nafasi kwa ile amri na ikaleta ndani yangu kila aina ya kutamani. Kwa maana dhambi pasipo sheria 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!
Nami nilikuwa hai hapo kwanza bila sheria, lakini ilipokuja ile amri, dhambi ilipata uhai, nami nikafa.
10 The commandment that should have meant life I found to result in death!
Ile amri na ambayo ingelileta uzima iligeuka kuwa mauti kwangu.
11 Sin took advantage of the commandment to deceive me, and used it to bring about my death.
Kwa maana dhambi ilipata nafasi kwa ile amri na ikanidanganya. Kupitia ile amri, iliniua.
12 And so the Law is holy, and each commandment is also holy, and just, and good.
Hivyo sheria ni takatifu, na ile amri ni takatifu, ya yaki, na 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.
Hivyo basi ile iliyo njema ilikuwa mauti kwangu mimi? Isiwe hivyo kamwe. Lakini dhambi, ili ionekane kuwa ni dhambi hasa kupitia ile njema, ilileta mauti ndani yangu. Hii ilikuwa ili kwamba kupitia ile amri, dhambi izidi kuwa mbaya mno.
14 We know that the Law is spiritual, but I am earthly – sold into slavery to sin.
Kwa maana twajua ya kuwa sheria asili yake ni ya rohoni, lakini mimi ni mtu wa mwilini. Nimeuzwa chini ya 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.
Maana nifanyalo, silielewi dhahiri. Kwa kuwa lile nilipendalo kutenda, silitendi, na lile nilichukialo, ndilo ninalolitenda.
16 But when I do what I want not to do, I am admitting that the Law is right.
Lakini kama nikilitenda lile nisilolipenda, nakubaliana na sheria ya 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 sasa si mimi nafsi yangu ninayetenda hilo, 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 najua ya kuwa ndani yangu, yaani ndani ya mwili wangu, halikai jambo jema. Kwa kuwa tamaa ya lililo jema imo ndani yangu, lakini silitendi.
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.
Kwa maana lile jema nilipendalo silitendi, bali lile ovu nisilolipenda ndilo nilitendalo.
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.
Sasa kama natenda lile nisilolipenda, si mimi binafsi nilitendaye, 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!
Nimefahama, tena, imo kanuni ndani yangu ya kutaka kutenda lililo jema, lakini uovu hakika umo ndani yangu.
22 At heart I delight in the Law of God;
Kwa maana naifurahia sheria ya Mungu kwa utu wa ndani.
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 naona kanuni iliyo tofauti katika viungo vya mwili wangu. Inapiga vita dhidi ya kanuni mpya katika akili zangu. Inanifanya mimi mateka kwa kanuni ya dhambi iliyo 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?
Mimi ni mtu wa huzuni! 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.
Lakini shukrani kwa Mungu kwa Yesu Kristo Bwana wetu! Hivyo basi. Mimi mwenyewe kwa akili zangu naitumikia sheria ya Mungu. Bali, kwa mwili naitumikia kanuni ya dhambi.
