Romans 7:9-22

English Standard Version

⁹ I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. ¹⁰ The very commandment ^(A)that promised life proved to be death to me. ¹¹ For sin, ^(B)seizing an opportunity through the commandment, ^(C)deceived me and through it killed me. ¹² So ^(D)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. ¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, ^(E)sold under sin. ¹⁵ For I do not understand my own actions. For ^(F)I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with ^(G)the law, that it is good. ¹⁷ So now ^(H)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells ^(I)in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ^19 (J)For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, ^(K)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 right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For ^(L)I delight in the law of God, ^(M)in my inner being,