¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.^(A)

¹⁸ For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^[a](A) For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.^(B)

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

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