1 Do you not know, brothers and sisters (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has authority over a person as long as they live?

Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?

2 For a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he is alive; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him.

For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

3 Consequently, while her husband is still alive, she would be called an adulteress if she joins herself to another man; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so she would not be an adulteress by becoming another man’s wife.

So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

4 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another—to Him who was raised from the dead—in order that we might bear fruit for God.

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death.

For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

6 But now we have been released from the law, having died to what once bound us, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

7 What shall we say then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, 'You shall not covet.'

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

8 But sin, seizing the opportunity provided by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.

But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.

9 At one time I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin came to life and I died.

For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.

And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.

11 For sin, seizing the opportunity provided by the commandment, deceived me and through the commandment put me to death.

For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.

12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

13 Did what is good then become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, in order to be recognized as sin, used what is good to bring about my death, so that sin might become utterly sinful through the commandment.

Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.

14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.

For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

15 For I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do.

For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.

If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.

17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.

Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

23 but I see another law at work in my members, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

But 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.

24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

25 Thanks 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.

I 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.