| International Standard Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Don't you realize, brothers—for I am speaking to people who know the Law—that the Law can press its claims over a person only as long as he is alive? | 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 the Law to her husband while he is living, but if her husband dies, she is released from the Law concerning her husband. | 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. |
| 3So while her husband is living, she will be called an adulterer if she lives with another man. But if her husband dies, she is free from this Law, so that she is not an adulterer if she marries another man. | 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. |
| 4In the same way, my brothers, through the Messiah's body you also died as far as the Law is concerned, so that you may belong to another person, the one who was raised from the dead, and 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 according to our human nature, sinful passions were at work in our bodies by means of the Law, to bear fruit resulting in 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 have been released from the Law by dying to what enslaved us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit, not under the old writings. | 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 should we say, then? Is the Law sinful? Of course not! In fact, I wouldn't have become aware of sin if it had not been for the Law. I wouldn't have known what it means to covet if the Law had not said, "You must 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 seized the opportunity provided by this commandment and produced in me all kinds of sinful desires, since apart from the Law, sin is dead. | 8And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead. |
| 9At one time I was alive without any connection to the Law. But when the rule was revealed, sin sprang to life, | 9Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life |
| 10and I died. I found that the very rule that was intended to bring life actually brought death. | 10and I died. The commandment that was meant for life resulted in death for me. |
| 11For sin, seizing the opportunity provided by the rule, deceived me and used it to kill me. | 11For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me. |
| 12So then, the Law itself is holy, and the rule is holy, just, and good. | 12So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. |
| 13Now, did something good bring me death? Of course not! But in order that sin might be recognized as being sin, it used something good to cause my death, so that through the rule, sin might become more exposed as being sinful than ever before. | 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 merely human, sold as a slave to sin. | 14For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am made out of flesh, sold into sin's power. |
| 15I don't understand what I am doing. For I don't practice what I want to do, but instead do what 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 practice what I don't want to do, I am admitting that the Law is good. | 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. |
| 17As it is, I am no longer the one who is doing it, but it is the sin that is living in me. | 17So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. |
| 18For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but I cannot 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 don't do the good I want to do, but instead do the evil that I don't want to do. | 19For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. |
| 20But if I do what I don't want to do, I am no longer the one who is doing it, but it is the sin that is living in 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 this to be a principle: when I want to do what is good, evil is right there with me. | 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 body a different principle waging war with the Law in my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin that exists in my body. | 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. |
| 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is infected by death? | 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body? |
| 25Thank God through Jesus the Messiah, our Lord, because with my mind I myself can serve the Law of God, even while with my human nature 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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