Onguturiro yatjiri i ri mu Kristus
1 Vakwetu, eṋe mamu tjiwa nawa imbi mbi me vanga okuhungira nambano, tjinga amu nondjiviro mOmatwako wa Moses. Omatwako ye honaparera omundu uriri eye ngunda e nomuinyo. 2 Nu ngatu tare kotjihorera hi: Omukazendu ngwa kupwa wa kutwa i Omatwako komurumendu we ngunda e nomuinyo; nungwari omurumendu tja koka, ingwi omukazendu tjandje wa kuturwa kOmatwako nge mu kutire komurumendu we. 3 Nomukazendu ngwi tja rire owomurumendu warwe omurumendu we ngunda e nomuinyo, eye ma varwa otja omukatuke worukupo. Nungwari omurumendu we tja ṱu, eye wa kuturwa kOmatwako, nu ke nokukatuka orukupo tja kupwa i omurumendu warwe. 4 Notjinga ape ri nao na eṋe, vakwetu. Neṋe tjinga amu ri ouṋepo worutu rwa Kristus, otjinga amwa ṱa, nu kamu ri kehi yOmatwako wa Moses. Eṋe nambano oweṋe ova ingwi ngwa pendurwa movakoke. Notji matu sokukara novihape vyongarero yokuungurira Ndjambi. 5 Orondu tjaa tuhupu otja kongaro youndu, ozonḓuma zourunde nḓa pendurwa i Omatwako wa Moses aaze ungura mouṋepo auhe wotutu twetu, kutja tu kare novihape mbi twara konḓiro. 6 Nungwari nambano eṱe twa kuturwa kOmatwako wa Moses, orondu tjinga atwa ṱa nu atu he tji ri kehi yOmatwako nge tu pandekere. Nambano matu sokukarera Ndjambi momuhingo omupe wOmbepo, nungwari katu tji nokumukarera momuhingo omukuru womatjangero womatwako.
Omatwako wa Moses nourunde
7 Nambano ngatu tje vi? Inga Omatwako wa Moses owo ourunde are? Kako ka tjiperi! Ami hitje tjiwa kutja ourunde otjikeṋa andakuzu Omatwako kaye ndji tjivisire. Ami hitje tjiwa kutja okunanukira otjiṋa ondjo, andakuzu Omatwako kaye tjere: “Ko nakunanukira ko otjiṋa tjomukweṋu.” 8 Nungwari otja ketwako ndi ourunde wa muna oruveze okupendura ozonḓuma ngamwa azehe pekepeke mu ami; orondu nokuhinomatwako ourunde kau nomasa. 9 Rukuru ami mba ri nomuinyo, omatwako tji ye ha ri po; nungwari indi etwako tji re ya, ourunde arire tji wa uta okukara nomuinyo, 10 nami e ṱu. Netwako ndi nda sere okundjipa omuinyo re ndji etera onḓiro. 11 Nourunde mbwa muna oruveze mu ami motjimbe tjetwako we ndji wovisa nau ndji zepa. 12 Omatwako otjinga aye ri omayapuke, nomarakiza wawo wina omayapuke nomasemba nomawa. 13 Nu mape hee kutja ihi tji tji ri otjiwa tje ndji etera onḓiro are? Kako ka tjiperi nao! Ourunde ombwe ndji etera onḓiro. Owo we ndji etera onḓiro mokuungurisa ihi tji tji ri otjiwa kokutja imbwi ourunde ouiniuini u horoke otja ourunde, nokutja metwako mu munike kutja ourunde owo ourunde tjinene komeho.
Ongondjero momundu
14 Eṱe matu tjiwa nawa, tjiri, kutja Omatwako ya za ku Ndjambi; nungwari ami owami omundu wonyama uriri, ngu mbi ri kehi youkarere wourunde. 15 Ihi tji me tjiti, hi nondjiviro na tjo; orondu ami hi tjiti ihi tji mbi vanga, nungwari mbi tjita ihi tji mba tonda. 16 Nu tji me tjiti ihi tji mbi ha vanga, okutja mape hee kutja ami mba itavere kutja Omatwako wa Moses ye ri osemba. 17 Nu nambano kawami ngu me tjiti otjiṋa hi, nungwari owo mbwi ourunde mbwa tura mu ami. 18 Ami me tjiwa nawa kutja ouwa mu ami kau tura, me hee kutja mongaro yandje otja ngu mbi ri omundu; orondu nandarire kutja indji ombango yokutjita ouwa mbi na yo, ami hi sora okuutjita! 19 Imbwi ouwa mbu mbi vanga okutjita, hi u tjiti, nungwari imbwi ouvi mbu mbi ha vanga okutjita ombu mbi tjita. 20 Nu tji me tjiti ihi tji mbi ha vanga okutjita, okutja kawami ngu me uhara ame tji tjiti, nungwari owo mbwi ourunde mbwa tura mu ami.
21 Nami opu me zu okurimuna kutja omatwako nga ye ri mu ami: Ami mbi vanga okutjita ouwa, nungwari ihi porwatjo tji mbi tjita owo mbwi ouvi. 22 Moukoto womutima wandje ami mbi muna mo orutjato momatwako wa Ndjambi. 23 Nungwari ami mbi rimuna kutja mouṋepo worutu rwandje mu nomatwako warwe, nge rwisa omatwako nga nge ri momutima wandje. Owo ye ndji isa po omupandekwa womatwako wourunde nge ungura mouṋepo worutu wandje. 24 Tjiri, owami omundu ngu mba ningisa ondjenda! Owaṋi ngu me ndji kutura korutu ndwi ndu maru ndji twara konḓiro? 25 Okuhepa uri ku Ndjambi! Eye u tjita nai mu Jesus Kristus oMuhona wetu!
Notjinga ape ri nao na ami: Nomutima wandje ami mbi karera Ndjambi, nungwari nouṋepo worutu rwandje mbi karera omatwako wourunde.
An Illustration from Marriage
1 Certainly you will understand what I am about to say, my friends, because all of you know about law. The law rules over people only as long as they live. 2 A married woman, for example, is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if he dies, then she is free from the law that bound her to him. 3 So then, if she lives with another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is legally a free woman and does not commit adultery if she marries another man. 4 That is how it is with you, my friends. As far as the Law is concerned, you also have died because you are part of the body of Christ; and now you belong to him who was raised from death in order that we might be useful in the service of God. 5 For when we lived according to our human nature, the sinful desires stirred up by the Law were at work in our bodies, and all we did ended in death. 6 Now, however, we are free from the Law, because we died to that which once held us prisoners. No longer do we serve in the old way of a written law, but in the new way of the Spirit.
Law and Sin
7 Shall we say, then, that the Law itself is sinful? Of course not! But it was the Law that made me know what sin is. If the Law had not said, “Do not desire what belongs to someone else,” I would not have known such a desire. 8 But by means of that commandment sin found its chance to stir up all kinds of selfish desires in me. Apart from law, sin is a dead thing. 9 I myself was once alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life, 10 and I died. And the commandment which was meant to bring life, in my case brought death. 11 Sin found its chance, and by means of the commandment it deceived me and killed me.
12 So then, the Law itself is holy, and the commandment is holy, right, and good. 13 But does this mean that what is good caused my death? By no means! It was sin that did it; by using what is good, sin brought death to me, in order that its true nature as sin might be revealed. And so, by means of the commandment sin is shown to be even more terribly sinful.
The Conflict in Us
14 We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am a mortal, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do; for I don't do what I would like to do, but instead I do what I hate. 16 Since what I do is what I don't want to do, this shows that I agree that the Law is right. 17 So I am not really the one who does this thing; rather it is the sin that lives in me. 18 I know that good does not live in me—that is, in my human nature. For even though the desire to do good is in me, I am not able to do it. 19 I don't do the good I want to do; instead, I do the evil that I do not want to do. 20 If I do what I don't want to do, this means that I am no longer the one who does it; instead, it is the sin that lives in me.
21 So I find that this law is at work: when I want to do what is good, what is evil is the only choice I have. 22 My inner being delights in the law of God. 23 But I see a different law at work in my body—a law that fights against the law which my mind approves of. It makes me a prisoner to the law of sin which is at work in my body. 24 What an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ!
This, then, is my condition: on my own I can serve God's law only with my mind, while my human nature serves the law of sin.
