¹⁵ I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.^{(A) 16} Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ But in fact it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸ For I know that the good does not dwell within me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do the good lies close at hand, but not the ability.^{(B) 19} For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells within me.

²¹ So I find it to be a law that, when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. ²² For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self,^{(C) 23} but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.^{(D) 24} Wretched person that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God^[a] through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with my mind I am enslaved to the law of God, but with my flesh I am enslaved to the law of sin.

¹⁶ “But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another,

¹⁸ “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; ¹⁹ the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”^[a](A)

Jesus Thanks His Father

²⁵ At that time Jesus said, “I thank^[a] you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants;^{(A) 26} yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.^{[b] 27} All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.^(B)

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.^{(C) 29} Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.^{(D) 30} For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”