¹⁴ But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. ¹⁵ Then desire ^(A)when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and ^(B)sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

¹⁶ Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

^8 (A)Be sober-minded; ^(B)be watchful. Your ^(C)adversary the devil ^(D)prowls around ^(E)like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

⁵ For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work ^(A)in our members ^(B)to bear fruit for death. ⁶ But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the ^(C)new way of ^(D)the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.^[a]

The Law and Sin

⁷ What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, ^(E)I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if ^(F)the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” ⁸ But sin, ^(G)seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. ^(H)For apart from the law, sin lies dead. ⁹ I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. ¹⁰ The very commandment ^(I)that promised life proved to be death to me. ¹¹ For sin, ^(J)seizing an opportunity through the commandment, ^(K)deceived me and through it killed me. ¹² So ^(L)the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

¹³ Did 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.