Ad Romanos 7

VULGATA	NEW JERUSALEM
1 An ignoratis, fratres (scientibus enim legem loquor), quia lex in homine 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 quæ sub viro est mulier, vivente viro, alligata est legi : si autem mortuus fuerit vir ejus, 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 cum alio viro : si autem mortuus fuerit vir ejus, liberata est a lege viri, ut non sit adultera si fuerit cum alio viro.	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, qui ex mortuis resurrexit, ut fructificemus 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, quæ per legem erant, 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 soluti sumus a lege mortis, in qua detinebamur, ita ut serviamus in novitate spiritus, et non in vetustate litteræ.	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 per legem : nam concupiscentiam nesciebam, 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 omnem concupiscentiam. 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 sine lege 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 autem mortuus sum : et inventum est mihi mandatum, quod erat ad vitam, hoc esse ad mortem.	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 illud occidit.	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 justum, 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 appareat peccatum, per bonum operatum est mihi mortem : ut fiat supra modum peccans peccatum 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 quia lex spiritualis est : ego autem carnalis sum, venundatus sub peccato.	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 intelligo : non enim quod volo bonum, hoc ago : sed quod odi malum, 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 legi, quoniam bona est.	16 While I am acting as I do not want to, I still acknowledge the Law as good,
17 Nunc autem jam 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. Nam velle, adjacet mihi : perficere autem bonum, non invenio.	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, hoc 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 : jam non 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 legem, volenti mihi facere bonum, quoniam mihi malum adjacet :	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 enim legi Dei secundum interiorem hominem :	22 In my inmost self I dearly love God's law,
23 video autem aliam legem in membris meis, repugnantem legi mentis meæ, et captivantem me in lege peccati, quæ est in membris 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 hujus ?	24 What a wretched man I am! Who wil rescue me from this body doomed to death?
25 gratia Dei per Jesum 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.