| English Standard Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? | 1Since I am speaking to those who understand law, brothers, are you unaware that the law has authority over someone as long as he lives? |
| 2For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. | 2For example, a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband. |
| 3Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. | 3So then, if she gives herself to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she gives herself to another man, she is not an adulteress. |
| 4Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. | 4Therefore, my brothers, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the crucified body of the Messiah, so that you may belong to another--to Him who was raised from the dead--that we may bear fruit for God. |
| 5For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. | 5For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions operated through the law in every part of us and bore fruit for death. |
| 6But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. | 6But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law. |
| 7What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” | 7What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet. |
| 8But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. | 8And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead. |
| 9I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. | 9Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life |
| 10The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. | 10and I died. The commandment that was meant for life resulted in death for me. |
| 11For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. | 11For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me. |
| 12So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. | 12So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. |
| 13Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. | 13Therefore, did what is good cause my death? Absolutely not! On the contrary, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure. |
| 14For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. | 14For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am made out of flesh, sold into sin's power. |
| 15For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. | 15For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. |
| 16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. | 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. |
| 17So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. | 17So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. |
| 18For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. | 18For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. |
| 19For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. | 19For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. |
| 20Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. | 20Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me. |
| 21So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. | 21So I discover this principle: When I want to do what is good, evil is with me. |
| 22For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, | 22For in my inner self I joyfully agree with God's law. |
| 23but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. | 23But I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. |
| 24Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? | 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body? |
| 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. | 25I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin. |
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