KwabaseRoma 7
1 Kalazi yini, bazalwane (ngoba ngikhuluma lalabo abawaziyo umlayo), ukuthi umlayo ubusa umuntu selokhu esaphila?
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?
2 Ngoba umfazi owendileyo ubotshelwe ngomlayo endodeni ephilayo; kodwa uba indoda isifile, ukhululiwe emlayweni wendoda.
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.
3 Ngakho uba indoda isaphila, uzathiwa yisifebe uba esiba ngowenye indoda; kodwa uba indoda isifile, ukhululekile emlayweni, ukuze angabi yisifebe uba esiba ngowenye indoda.
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.
4 Ngakho, bazalwane bami, selenziwe lafa lani emlayweni ngomzimba kaKristu, ukuze libe ngabomunye, ngabalowo owavuswa kwabafileyo, ukuze sithelele uNkulunkulu izithelo.
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.
5 Ngoba sathi sisenyameni, inkanuko zezono ezingomlayo zasebenza ezithweni zethu ukuthelela ukufa izithelo.
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.
6 Kodwa khathesi-ke sesikhululiwe emthethweni, sifile mayelana lalokho esasibanjwe yikho, ukuze sikhonze ngobutsha bomoya, njalo kungeyisikho ngobudala bokulotshiweyo.
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.
7 Pho-ke sizakuthini? Umthetho uyisono yini? Phinde! Kodwa bengingasazi isono, ngaphandle ngomthetho; ngoba bengingawazi umhawu futhi, uba umthetho ubungatshongo ukuthi: Ungabi lomhawu.
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.”
8 Kodwa isono, sizuze ithuba ngomthetho, sasebenza kimi umhawu wonke; ngoba ngaphandle komlayo isono sifile.
But sin took the opportunity through the commandment and brought about every lust in me. For without the law, sin is dead.
9 Mina-ke ngake ngaphila ngaphandle komlayo; kodwa kwathi sekufike umthetho, isono savuka, njalo ngafa mina;
At one time I was alive without the law, but when the commandment came, sin regained life, and I died.
10 njalo umthetho ongowempilo, wona waficwa yimi ungowokufa;
The commandment that was to bring life turned out to be death for me.
11 ngoba isono, sizuze ithuba ngomthetho, sangikhohlisa, sangibulala ngawo.
For sin took the opportunity through the commandment and deceived me. Through the commandment it killed me.
12 Ngakho umthetho ungcwele, lomlayo ungcwele njalo ulungile, futhi muhle.
So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, 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.
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.
14 Ngoba siyazi ukuthi umthetho ungowomoya; kanti mina ngingowenyama, ngithengisiwe ngaphansi kwesono.
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh. I have been sold under slavery to sin.
15 Ngoba lokhu engikwenzayo, angivumelanilakho; ngoba kakusikho engikuthandayo, lokho engikwenzayo; kodwa lokho engikuzondayo, yikho engikwenzayo.
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.
16 Uba ngisenza lokho engingakuthandiyo, ngiyawuvumela umthetho ukuthi ulungile.
But if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that the law is good.
17 Kodwa khathesi-ke kakuseyimi engikwenzayo, kodwa yisono esihlala kimi.
But now it is no longer I who do it, but the sin that lives in me.
18 Ngoba ngiyazi ukuthi kimi, lokhu kuyikuthi enyameni yami, kakuhlali okuhle; ngoba kukhona ukuthanda kimi, kodwa ukwenza okuhle kangikutholi.
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.
19 Ngoba okuhle engikuthandayo, kangikwenzi; kodwa okubi engingakuthandiyo, yikho engikwenzayo.
For the good that I want I do not do, but the evil that I do not want, that I do.
20 Kodwa uba ngisenza lokho mina engingakuthandiyo, kakuseyimi engikwenzayo, kodwa yisono esihlala kimi.
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.
21 Ngakho ngithola umthetho wokuthi lapho ngithanda ukwenza okuhle, okubi kukhona kimi.
I find, then, the principle in me that I want to do what is good, but that evil is actually present in me.
22 Ngoba ngiyathokoza emthethweni kaNkulunkulu ngomuntu ophakathi;
For I rejoice in the law of God with the inner man.
23 kodwa ngibona ezithweni zami omunye umthetho olwa lomthetho wengqondo yami, longithumbela emthethweni wesono osezithweni zami.
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.
24 Mina muntu olusizi! Ngubani ozangikhulula kulumzimba walokhukufa?
I am a miserable man! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
25 Ngiyabonga uNkulunkulu ngoJesu Kristu iNkosi yethu. Ngalokho-ke mina ngokwami ngikhonza umthetho kaNkulunkulu ngengqondo, kodwa ngenyama umthetho wesono.
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.
