15 For I do not understand my own actions. For (A)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 (B)the law, that it is good. 17 So now (C)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells (D)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 (E)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, (F)it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

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15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[a] I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

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Footnotes

  1. 7:18 Greek my flesh; also in 7:25.