| New King James Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man 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 the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of 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 then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married 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. |
| 4Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to 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 when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to 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 delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. | 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 shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had 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, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was 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 alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. | 9Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life |
| 10And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. | 10and I died. The commandment that was meant for life resulted in death for me. |
| 11For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. | 11For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me. |
| 12Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. | 12So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. |
| 13Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. | 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 carnal, sold under sin. | 14For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am made out of flesh, sold into sin's power. |
| 15For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. | 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. |
| 16If, then, I do what I will not to do, 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. |
| 17But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. | 17So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. |
| 18For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. | 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 the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. | 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 will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells 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. |
| 21I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. | 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 according to the inward man. | 22For in my inner self I joyfully agree with God's law. |
| 23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is 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. |
| 24O wretched 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? |
| 25I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh 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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