Romans 7

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 As people who are familiar with the Law, brothers, you cannot have forgotten that the law can control aperson only during that person's lifetime.	1 Or do you not know, brothers, (now I am speaking to those who know the law) that the law has dominion over a man only so long as he lives?
2 A married woman, for instance, is bound to her husband by law, as long as he lives, but when herhusband dies all her legal obligation to him as husband is ended.	2 For example, a woman who is subject to a husband is obligated by the law while her husband lives. But when her husband has died, she is released from the law of her husband.
3 So if she were to have relations with another man while her husband was still alive, she would betermed an adulteress; but if her husband dies, her legal obligation comes to an end and if she then has relationswith another man, that does not make her an adulteress.	3 Therefore, while her husband lives, if she has been with another man, she should be called an adulteress. But when her husband has died, she is freed from the law of her husband, such that, if she has been with another man, she is not an adulteress.
4 In the same way you, my brothers, through the body of Christ have become dead to the Law and soyou are able to belong to someone else, that is, to him who was raised from the dead to make us live fruitful y for God.	4 And so, my brothers, you also have become dead to the law, through the body of Christ, so that you may be another one who has risen from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.
5 While we were stil living by our natural inclinations, the sinful passions aroused by the Law wereworking in al parts of our bodies to make us live lives which were fruitful only for death.	5 For when we were in the flesh, the passions of sins, which were under the law, operated within our bodies, so as to bear fruit unto death.
6 But now we are released from the Law, having died to what was binding us, and so we are in a newservice, that of the spirit, and not in the old service of a written code.	6 But now we have been released from the law of death, by which we were being held, so that now we may serve with a renewed spirit, and not in the old way, by the letter.
7 What should we say, then? That the Law itself is sin? Out of the question! All the same, if it had notbeen for the Law, I should not have known what sin was; for instance, I should not have known what it meant tocovet if the Law had not said: You are not to covet.	7 What should we say next? Is the law sin? Let it not be so! But I do not know sin, except through the law. For example, I would not have known about coveting, unless the law said: “You shall not covet.”
8 But, once it found the opportunity through that commandment, sin produced in me al kinds ofcovetousness; as long as there is no Law, sin is dead.	8 But sin, receiving an opportunity through the commandment, wrought in me all manner of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.
9 Once, when there was no Law, I used to be alive; but when the commandment came, sin came to life	9 Now I lived for some time apart from the law. But when the commandment had arrived, sin was revived,
10 and I died. The commandment was meant to bring life but I found it brought death,	10 and I died. And the commandment, which was unto life, was itself found to be unto death for me.
11 because sin, finding its opportunity by means of the commandment, beguiled me and, by means of it,kil ed me.	11 For sin, receiving an opportunity through the commandment, seduced me, and, through the law, sin killed me.
12 So then, the Law is holy, and what it commands is holy and upright and good.	12 And so, the law itself is indeed holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.
13 Does that mean that something good resulted in my dying? Out of the question! But sin, in order to beidentified as sin, caused my death through that good thing, and so it is by means of the commandment that sinshows its unbounded sinful power.	13 Then was what is good made into death for me? Let it not be so! But rather sin, in order that it might be known as sin by what is good, wrought death in me; so that sin, through the commandment, might become sinful beyond measure.
14 We are wel aware that the Law is spiritual: but I am a creature of flesh and blood sold as a slave tosin.	14 For we know that the law is spiritual. But I am carnal, having been sold under sin.
15 I do not understand my own behaviour; I do not act as I mean to, but I do things that I hate.	15 For I do things that I do not understand. For I do not do the good that I want to do. But the evil that I hate is what I do.
16 While I am acting as I do not want to, I still acknowledge the Law as good,	16 So, when I do what I do not want to do, I am in agreement with the law, that the law is good.
17 so it is not myself acting, but the sin which lives in me.	17 But I am then acting not according to the law, but according to the sin which lives within me.
18 And really, I know of nothing good living in me -- in my natural self, that is -- for though the wil to dowhat is good is in me, the power to do it is not:	18 For I know that what is good does not live within me, that is, within my flesh. For the willingness to do good lies close to me, but the carrying out of that good, I cannot reach.
19 the good thing I want to do, I never do; the evil thing which I do not want -- that is what I do.	19 For I do not do the good that I want to do. But instead, I do the evil that I do not want to do.
20 But every time I do what I do not want to, then it is not myself acting, but the sin that lives in me.	20 Now if I do what I am not willing to do, it is no longer I who am doing it, but the sin which lives within me.
21 So I find this rule: that for me, where I want to do nothing but good, evil is close at my side.	21 And so, I discover the law, by wanting to do good within myself, though evil lies close beside me.
22 In my inmost self I dearly love God's law,	22 For I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inner man.
23 but I see that acting on my body there is a different law which battles against the law in my mind. So Iam brought to be a prisoner of that law of sin which lives inside my body.	23 But I perceive another law within my body, fighting against the law of my mind, and captivating me with the law of sin which is in my body.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who wil rescue me from this body doomed to death?	24 Unhappy man that I am, who will free me from this body of death?
25 God -- thanks be to him -- through Jesus Christ our Lord. So it is that I myself with my mind obey thelaw of God, but in my disordered nature I obey the law of sin.	25 The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord! Therefore, I serve the law of God with my own mind; but with the flesh, the law of sin.