Romans 7

CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
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?	1 Are you unaware, brothers (for I am speaking to people who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over one as long as one lives?
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.	2 Thus a married woman is bound by law to her living husband; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law in respect to her husband.
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.	3 Consequently, while her husband is alive she will be called an adulteress if she consorts with another man. But if her husband dies she is free from that law, and she is not an adulteress if she consorts with another man.
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.	4 In the same way, my brothers, you also were put to death to the law through the body of Christ, so that you might belong to another, to the one who was raised from the dead in order that we might bear fruit for God.
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.	5 For when we were in the flesh, our sinful passions, awakened by the law, worked in our members to bear fruit for death.
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.	6 But now we are released from the law, dead to what held us captive, so that we may serve in the newness of the spirit and not under the obsolete letter.
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.”	7 What then can we say? That the law is sin? Of course not! Yet I did not know sin except through the law, and I did not know what it is to covet except that the law said, "You shall not covet."
8 But sin, receiving an opportunity through the commandment, wrought in me all manner of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.	8 But sin, finding an opportunity in the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetousness. Apart from the law sin is dead.
9 Now I lived for some time apart from the law. But when the commandment had arrived, sin was revived,	9 I once lived outside the law, but when the commandment came, sin became alive;
10 and I died. And the commandment, which was unto life, was itself found to be unto death for me.	10 then I died, and the commandment that was for life turned out to be death for me.
11 For sin, receiving an opportunity through the commandment, seduced me, and, through the law, sin killed me.	11 For sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and through it put me to death.
12 And so, the law itself is indeed holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.	12 So then the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
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.	13 Did the good, then, become death for me? Of course not! Sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin, worked death in me through the good, so that sin might become sinful beyond measure through the commandment.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual. But I am carnal, having been sold under sin.	14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold into slavery to sin.
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.	15 What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate.
16 So, when I do what I do not want to do, I am in agreement with the law, that the law is good.	16 Now if I do what I do not want, I concur that the law is good.
17 But I am then acting not according to the law, but according to the sin which lives within me.	17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
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.	18 For I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh. The willing is ready at hand, but doing the good is not.
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.	19 For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.
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.	20 Now if (I) do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
21 And so, I discover the law, by wanting to do good within myself, though evil lies close beside me.	21 So, then, I discover the principle that when I want to do right, evil is at hand.
22 For I am delighted with the law of God, according to the inner man.	22 For I take delight in the law of God, in my inner self,
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.	23 but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
24 Unhappy man that I am, who will free me from this body of death?	24 Miserable one that I am! Who will deliver me from this mortal body?
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.	25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore, I myself, with my mind, serve the law of God but, with my flesh, the law of sin.