1 A re ye ignorant, brethren -- for to those knowing law I speak -- that the law hath lordship over the man as long as he liveth?

Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives?

2 f or the married woman to the living husband hath been bound by law, and if the husband may die, she hath been free from the law of the husband;

For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband.

3 s o, then, the husband being alive, an adulteress she shall be called if she may become another man's; and if the husband may die, she is free from the law, so as not to be an adulteress, having become another man's.

So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man.

4 S o that, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of the Christ, for your becoming another's, who out of the dead was raised up, that we might bear fruit to God;

Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.

5 f or when we were in the flesh, the passions of the sins, that through the law, were working in our members, to bear fruit to the death;

For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.

6 a nd now we have ceased from the law, that being dead in which we were held, so that we may serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter.

But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

7 W hat, then, shall we say? the law sin? let it not be! but the sin I did not know except through law, for also the covetousness I had not known if the law had not said:

What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “ You shall not covet.”

8 ` Thou shalt not covet;' and the sin having received an opportunity, through the command, did work in me all covetousness -- for apart from law sin is dead.

But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.

9 A nd I was alive apart from law once, and the command having come, the sin revived, and I died;

I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died;

10 a nd the command that for life, this was found by me for death;

and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me;

11 f or the sin, having received an opportunity, through the command, did deceive me, and through it did slay;

for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.

12 s o that the law, indeed, holy, and the command holy, and righteous, and good.

So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

13 T hat which is good then, to me hath it become death? let it not be! but the sin, that it might appear sin, through the good, working death to me, that the sin might become exceeding sinful through the command,

Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. The Conflict of Two Natures

14 f or we have known that the law is spiritual, and I am fleshly, sold by the sin;

For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.

15 f or that which I work, I do not acknowledge; for not what I will, this I practise, but what I hate, this I do.

For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.

16 A nd if what I do not will, this I do, I consent to the law that good,

But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.

17 a nd now it is no longer I that work it, but the sin dwelling in me,

So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

18 f or I have known that there doth not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh, good: for to will is present with me, and to work that which is right I do not find,

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.

19 f or the good that I will, I do not; but the evil that I do not will, this I practise.

For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.

20 A nd if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that work it, but the sin that is dwelling in me.

But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

21 I find, then, the law, that when I desire to do what is right, with me the evil is present,

I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.

22 f or I delight in the law of God according to the inward man,

For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,

23 a nd I behold another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of the sin that in my members.

but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.

24 A wretched man I! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?

Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?

25 I thank God -- through Jesus Christ our Lord; so then, I myself indeed with the mind do serve the law of God, and with the flesh, the law of sin.

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.