Romans 7
1 Or do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to people who know about law), that the law controls a person for as long as he lives?
Ndugu zangu, bila shaka mtaelewa yafuatayo, maana ninawazungumzia watu wanaojua Sheria. Sheria humtawala mtu wakati akiwa hai.
2 For the married woman is bound by law to the husband while he lives, but if the husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.
Mathalan: mwanamke aliyeolewa anafungwa na sheria muda wote mumewe anapokuw hai; lakini mumewe akifa, hiyo sheria haimtawali tena huyo mwanamke.
3 So then, while her husband is living, if she lives with another man, she will be called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so she is not an adulteress if she lives with another man.
Hivyo mwanamke huyo akiishi na mwanamume mwingine wakati mumewe yungali hai, ataitwa mzinzi; lakini mumewe akifa, mwanamke huyo yu huru kisheria, na akiolewa na mwanamume mwingine, yeye si mzinzi.
4 Therefore, my brothers, you were also made dead to the law through the body of Christ. This is so that you could be joined to another, that is, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might produce fruit for God.
Hali kadhalika ninyi ndugu zangu: ninyi pia mmekufa kuhusu Sheria kwa kuwa ninyi ni sehemu ya mwili wa Kristo; sasa mmekuwa wake yeye aliyefufuliwa kutoka wafu ili tupate kuzaa matunda mema kwa ajili ya Mungu.
5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
Maana, tulipokuwa tukiishi kimaumbile tu, tamaa mbaya zikichochewa na Sheria, zilifanya kazi katika miili yetu, na kuchuma pato la kifo.
6 But now we have been released from the law. We have died to that by which we were held. This is so that we might serve in newness of the Spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.
Lakini sasa tumekuwa huru kutoka vifungo vya Sheria, kwa sababu tumekufa kuhusu lile jambo lililotufanya sisi watumwa. Sasa tunatumikia kufuatana na maisha mapya ya Roho, na si kufuatana na hali ile ya kale ya Sheria iliyoandikwa.
7 What will we say then? Is the law itself sin? May it never be. However, I would never have known sin, if it were not through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law said, “You must not covet.”
Je, tuseme basi, kwamba Sheria ni dhambi? Hata kidogo! Lakini bila Sheria, mimi nisingalijua dhambi ni kitu gani. Maana, nisingalijua ni nini hasa kutamani mabaya, kama Sheria isingalikuwa imesema: “Usitamani.”
8 But sin took the opportunity through the commandment and brought about every lust in me. For without the law, sin is dead.
Kwa kuitumia hiyo amri, dhambi ilipata fursa ya kuamsha kila aina ya tamaa mbaya ndani yangu. Maana, bila Sheria dhambi ni kitu kilichokufa.
9 At one time I was alive without the law, but when the commandment came, sin regained life, and I died.
Wakati mmoja mimi nilikuwa hai mbali na Sheria; lakini amri ilipokuja, dhambi ilifufuka,
10 The commandment that was to bring life turned out to be death for me.
nami nikafa. Hiyo amri ambayo shabaha yake ilikuwa kuleta uhai, kwangu imeleta kifo.
11 For sin took the opportunity through the commandment and deceived me. Through the commandment it killed me.
Maana, dhambi ilichukua fursa iliyopatiwa na amri hiyo, ikanidanganya na kuniua.
12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.
Basi, Sheria yenyewe ni takatifu, na amri yenyewe ni takatifu, ni ya haki na nzuri.
13 So did what is good become death to me? May it never be. But sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin through what is good, brought about death in me. This was in order that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure.
Je, hii inamaanisha kwamba kile kilicho kizuri kimesababisha kifo changu? Hata kidogo! Iliyo ni kwamba, dhambi, ili ionekane dhahiri kuwa ni dhambi, imekitumia kile kilicho kizuri na kusababisha kifo changu. Hivyo dhambi, kwa njia ya ile amri, ilijionyesha kikamilifu jinsi ilivyo mbaya mno.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh. I have been sold under slavery to sin.
Tunajua kwamba Sheria ni ya kiroho, lakini mimi ni wa kidunia, mimi nimeuzwa kuwa mtumwa wa dhambi.
15 For what I do, I do not really understand. For what I want to do, I do not do, and what I hate, I do.
Sielewi nifanyacho, maana kile ninachotaka sikifanyi, bali kile ninachochukia ndicho nikifanyacho.
16 But if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that the law is good.
Ikiwa basi, ninatenda kinyume cha matakwa yangu, hii inamaanisha kwamba nakubali kuwa ile Sheria ni nzuri.
17 But now it is no longer I who do it, but the sin that lives in me.
Basi, si mimi hasa ninayefanya kitu hicho, bali ile dhambi iliyo ndani yangu.
18 For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, lives no good thing. For the desire for good is with me, but I cannot do it.
Najua kwamba hamna jema lolote ndani yangu mimi, kadiri ya ubinadamu wangu. Kwa maana, ingawa nataka kufanya jambo jema, siwezi kulitekeleza.
19 For the good that I want I do not do, but the evil that I do not want, that I do.
Yaani, badala ya kufanya lile jambo jema ninalotaka, nafanya lile baya nisilotaka.
20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, then it is no longer I who am acting, but rather sin that lives in me.
Basi, kama ninafanya kinyume cha matakwa yangu, hii inamaanisha kwamba si mimi ninayefanya hayo, bali ni ile dhambi iliyo ndani yangu.
21 I find, then, the principle in me that I want to do what is good, but that evil is actually present in me.
Basi, nimegundua kanuni hii: ninataka kufanya jema, lakini najikuta kwamba lile lililo baya ndilo ninalochagua.
22 For I rejoice in the law of God with the inner man.
Ndani kabisa katika moyo wangu naifurahia sheria ya Mungu.
23 But I see a different principle in my body parts. It fights against that new principle in my mind. It takes me captive by the principle of sin that is in my body parts.
Lakini naona kwamba kuna sheria nyingine inayofanya kazi mwilini mwangu, sheria ambayo inapingana na ile inayokubaliwa na akili yangu. Hiyo inanifanya niwe mtumwa wa sheria ya dhambi ifanyayo kazi mwilini mwangu.
24 I am a miserable man! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Maskini miye! Nani atakayeniokoa kutoka katika mwili huu unaonipeleka kifoni?
25 But thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind. However, with the flesh I serve the principle of sin.
Shukrani kwa Mungu afanyaye hayo kwa njia ya Bwana wetu Yesu Kristo! Hii basi, ndiyo hali yangu: mimi binafsi, kwa akili yangu, ninaitumikia sheria ya dhambi.
