Lettera ai Romani 7

NOVA VULGATA	NEW JERUSALEM
1 An ignoratis, fratres — scienti bus enim legem loquor — quia lex inhomine dominatur, quanto tempore vivit?	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.
2 Nam quae sub viro est mulier, viventiviro alligata est lege; si autem mortuus fuerit vir, soluta est a lege viri.	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.
3 Igitur, vivente viro, vocabitur adultera, si fuerit alterius viri; si autemmortuus fuerit vir, libera est a lege, ut non sit adultera, si fuerit alteriusviri.	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.
4 Itaque, fratres mei, et vos mortificati estis legi per corpus Christi,ut sitis alterius, eius qui ex mortuis suscitatus est, ut fructificaremus Deo.	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.
5 Cum enim essemus in carne, passiones peccatorum, quae per legem sunt,operabantur in membris nostris, ut fructificarent morti;	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.
6 nunc autem solutisumus a lege, mortui ei, in qua detinebamur, ita ut serviamus in novitateSpiritus et non in vetustate litterae.	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.
7 Quid ergo dicemus? Lex peccatum est? Absit! Sed peccatum non cognovi, nisi perlegem; nam concupiscentiam nescirem, nisi lex diceret: “ Non concupisces ”.	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.
8 Occasione autem accepta, peccatum per mandatum operatum est in me omnemconcupiscentiam; sine lege enim peccatum mortuum erat.	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.
9 Ego autem vivebam sinelege aliquando; sed, cum venisset mandatum, peccatum revixit,	9 Once, when there was no Law, I used to be alive; but when the commandment came, sin came to life
10 ego autemmortuus sum; et inventum est mihi mandatum, quod erat ad vitam, hoc esse admortem;	10 and I died. The commandment was meant to bring life but I found it brought death,
11 nam peccatum, occasione accepta, per mandatum seduxit me et per illudoccidit.	11 because sin, finding its opportunity by means of the commandment, beguiled me and, by means of it,kil ed me.
12 Itaque lex quidem sancta, et mandatum sanctum et iustum et bonum.	12 So then, the Law is holy, and what it commands is holy and upright and good.
13 Quod ergo bonum est, mihi factum est mors? Absit! Sed peccatum, ut appareatpeccatum, per bonum mihi operatum est mortem; ut fiat supra modum peccanspeccatum per mandatum.	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.
14 Scimus enim quod lex spiritalis est; ego autem carnalis sum, venumdatus subpeccato.	14 We are wel aware that the Law is spiritual: but I am a creature of flesh and blood sold as a slave tosin.
15 Quod enim operor, non intellego; non enim, quod volo, hoc ago, sedquod odi, illud facio.	15 I do not understand my own behaviour; I do not act as I mean to, but I do things that I hate.
16 Si autem, quod nolo, illud facio, consentio legiquoniam bona.	16 While I am acting as I do not want to, I still acknowledge the Law as good,
17 Nunc autem iam non ego operor illud, sed, quod habitat in me,peccatum.	17 so it is not myself acting, but the sin which lives in me.
18 Scio enim quia non habitat in me, hoc est in carne mea, bonum; namvelle adiacet mihi, operari autem bonum, non!	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:
19 Non enim, quod volo bonum,facio, sed, quod nolo malum, hoc ago.	19 the good thing I want to do, I never do; the evil thing which I do not want -- that is what I do.
20 Si autem, quod nolo, illud facio, iamnon ego operor illud, sed, quod habitat in me, peccatum.	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.
21 Invenio igitur hanclegem volenti mihi facere bonum, quoniam mihi malum adiacet.	21 So I find this rule: that for me, where I want to do nothing but good, evil is close at my side.
22 Condelector enimlegi Dei secundum interiorem hominem;	22 In my inmost self I dearly love God's law,
23 video autem aliam legem in membris meisrepugnantem legi mentis meae et captivantem me in lege peccati, quae est inmembris meis.	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.
24 Infelix ego homo! Quis me liberabit de corpore mortis huius?	24 What a wretched man I am! Who wil rescue me from this body doomed to death?
25 Gratias autemDeo per Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum! Igitur ego ipse mente servio legi Dei,carne autem legi peccati.	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.