KwabaseRoma 7
1 Kalazi yini, bazalwane (ngoba ngikhuluma lalabo abawaziyo umlayo), ukuthi umlayo ubusa umuntu selokhu esaphila?
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.
2 Ngoba umfazi owendileyo ubotshelwe ngomlayo endodeni ephilayo; kodwa uba indoda isifile, ukhululiwe emlayweni wendoda.
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.
3 Ngakho uba indoda isaphila, uzathiwa yisifebe uba esiba ngowenye indoda; kodwa uba indoda isifile, ukhululekile emlayweni, ukuze angabi yisifebe uba esiba ngowenye indoda.
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.
4 Ngakho, bazalwane bami, selenziwe lafa lani emlayweni ngomzimba kaKristu, ukuze libe ngabomunye, ngabalowo owavuswa kwabafileyo, ukuze sithelele uNkulunkulu izithelo.
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.
5 Ngoba sathi sisenyameni, inkanuko zezono ezingomlayo zasebenza ezithweni zethu ukuthelela ukufa izithelo.
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.
6 Kodwa khathesi-ke sesikhululiwe emthethweni, sifile mayelana lalokho esasibanjwe yikho, ukuze sikhonze ngobutsha bomoya, njalo kungeyisikho ngobudala bokulotshiweyo.
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.
7 Pho-ke sizakuthini? Umthetho uyisono yini? Phinde! Kodwa bengingasazi isono, ngaphandle ngomthetho; ngoba bengingawazi umhawu futhi, uba umthetho ubungatshongo ukuthi: Ungabi lomhawu.
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.
8 Kodwa isono, sizuze ithuba ngomthetho, sasebenza kimi umhawu wonke; ngoba ngaphandle komlayo isono sifile.
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.
9 Mina-ke ngake ngaphila ngaphandle komlayo; kodwa kwathi sekufike umthetho, isono savuka, njalo ngafa mina;
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!
10 njalo umthetho ongowempilo, wona waficwa yimi ungowokufa;
The commandment that should have meant life I found to result in death!
11 ngoba isono, sizuze ithuba ngomthetho, sangikhohlisa, sangibulala ngawo.
Sin took advantage of the commandment to deceive me, and used it to bring about my death.
12 Ngakho umthetho ungcwele, lomlayo ungcwele njalo ulungile, futhi muhle.
And so the Law is holy, and each commandment is also holy, and just, and good.
13 Ngakho okulungileyo kwaba yikufa kimi yini? Phinde! Kodwa isono, ukuze sibonakaliswe ukuthi siyisono, sisebenza ukufa kimi ngokulungileyo; ukuze isono ngomthetho sibe yikonakala okukhulu kakhulu.
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.
14 Ngoba siyazi ukuthi umthetho ungowomoya; kanti mina ngingowenyama, ngithengisiwe ngaphansi kwesono.
We know that the Law is spiritual, but I am earthly – sold into slavery to sin.
15 Ngoba lokhu engikwenzayo, angivumelanilakho; ngoba kakusikho engikuthandayo, lokho engikwenzayo; kodwa lokho engikuzondayo, yikho engikwenzayo.
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.
16 Uba ngisenza lokho engingakuthandiyo, ngiyawuvumela umthetho ukuthi ulungile.
But when I do what I want not to do, I am admitting that the Law is right.
17 Kodwa khathesi-ke kakuseyimi engikwenzayo, kodwa yisono esihlala kimi.
This being so, the action is no longer my own, but is done by the sin which is within me.
18 Ngoba ngiyazi ukuthi kimi, lokhu kuyikuthi enyameni yami, kakuhlali okuhle; ngoba kukhona ukuthanda kimi, kodwa ukwenza okuhle kangikutholi.
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.
19 Ngoba okuhle engikuthandayo, kangikwenzi; kodwa okubi engingakuthandiyo, yikho engikwenzayo.
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.
20 Kodwa uba ngisenza lokho mina engingakuthandiyo, kakuseyimi engikwenzayo, kodwa yisono esihlala kimi.
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.
21 Ngakho ngithola umthetho wokuthi lapho ngithanda ukwenza okuhle, okubi kukhona kimi.
This, then, is the law that I find – when I want to do right, wrong presents itself!
22 Ngoba ngiyathokoza emthethweni kaNkulunkulu ngomuntu ophakathi;
At heart I delight in the Law of God;
23 kodwa ngibona ezithweni zami omunye umthetho olwa lomthetho wengqondo yami, longithumbela emthethweni wesono osezithweni zami.
but throughout my body I see a different law, one which is in conflict with the law accepted by my reason, and which endeavours to make me a prisoner to that law of sin which exists throughout my body.
24 Mina muntu olusizi! Ngubani ozangikhulula kulumzimba walokhukufa?
Miserable man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body that is bringing me to this death?
25 Ngiyabonga uNkulunkulu ngoJesu Kristu iNkosi yethu. Ngalokho-ke mina ngokwami ngikhonza umthetho kaNkulunkulu ngengqondo, kodwa ngenyama umthetho wesono.
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.
