Romans 7:24

Christian Standard Bible ®

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body?

Parallel Translations

Simplified Cowboy Version
Oh, what a sorry cowboy I am. Who can set me free from this power that dominates my life and leads to eternal death?

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?

Legacy Standard Bible
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?

Bible in Basic English
How unhappy am I! who will make me free from the body of this death?

Darby Translation
O wretched man that I [am]! who shall deliver me out of this body of death?

World English Bible
What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death?

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Wretched man that I am!

Weymouth's New Testament
(Unhappy man that I am! who will rescue me from this death-burdened body?

King James Version (1611)
O wretched man that I am: who shall deliuer me from the body of this death?

Literal Translation
O wretched man that I am ! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
O wretched man that I am, who shal delyuer me from the body of this death?

Mace New Testament (1729)
O wretched man that I am, what shall deliver me from this body of death?

THE MESSAGE
I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?

Amplified Bible
Wretched and miserable man that I am! Who will [rescue me and] set me free from this body of death [this corrupt, mortal existence]?

American Standard Version
Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?

Revised Standard Version
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
O wretched man yt I am: who shall delyver me fro this body of deeth?

Update Bible Version
Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?

Webster's Bible Translation
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Young's Literal Translation
A wretched man I [am]! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?

New Century Version
What a miserable man I am! Who will save me from this body that brings me death?

New English Translation
Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Berean Standard Bible
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Contemporary English Version
What a miserable person I am. Who will rescue me from this body that is doomed to die?

Complete Jewish Bible
What a miserable creature I am! Who will rescue me from this body bound for death?

English Standard Version
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Geneva Bible (1587)
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliuer me from the body of this death!

George Lamsa Translation
O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this mortal body?

Hebrew Names Version
What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death?

International Standard Version
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Murdock Translation
O, a miserable man, am I ! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

New King James Version
O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

New Living Translation
Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?

New Life Bible
There is no happiness in me! Who can set me free from my sinful old self?

English Revised Version
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?

New Revised Standard
Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Wretched, man am, I! Who shall rescue me out of this body doomed to death?

Douay-Rheims Bible
Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

King James Version
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Lexham English Bible
Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
O wretched man that I am: Who shall deliuer me from the body of this death?

Easy-to-Read Version
What a miserable person I am! Who will save me from this body that brings me death?

New American Standard Bible
Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?

Good News Translation
What an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death?

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Y am an vnceli man; who schal delyuer me fro the bodi of this synne?

Contextual Overview

¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am made out of flesh, sold into sin's power. ¹⁵ For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷ So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me. ²¹ So I discover this principle: When I want to do what is good, evil is with me. ²² For in my inner self I joyfully agree with God's law. ²³ But I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

wretched: Romans 8:26, 1 Kings 8:38, Psalms 6:6, Psalms 32:3, Psalms 32:4, Psalms 38:2, Psalms 38:8-10, Psalms 77:3-9, Psalms 119:20, Psalms 119:81-83, Psalms 119:131, Psalms 119:143, Psalms 119:176, Psalms 130:1-3, Ezekiel 9:4, Matthew 5:4, Matthew 5:6, 2 Corinthians 12:7-9, Revelation 21:4

who: Deuteronomy 22:26, Deuteronomy 22:27, Psalms 71:11, Psalms 72:12, Psalms 91:14, Psalms 91:15, Psalms 102:20, Micah 7:19, Zechariah 9:11, Zechariah 9:12, Luke 4:18, 2 Corinthians 1:8-10, 2 Timothy 4:18, Titus 2:14, Hebrews 2:15

the body of this: or, this body of, Romans 6:6, Romans 8:13, Psalms 88:5, Colossians 2:11

Reciprocal: Psalms 73:2 - feet Psalms 97:10 - hate Psalms 119:40 - I have Psalms 119:133 - let not Isaiah 64:6 - are all Jeremiah 34:14 - been sold Romans 6:12 - Let not Romans 7:14 - sold Romans 8:23 - even we Romans 14:22 - Happy 2 Corinthians 5:2 - we Galatians 3:24 - the law Revelation 3:17 - wretched

Cross-References

Genesis 7:3
and seven pairs, male and female, of the birds of the sky—in order to keep offspring alive on the face of the whole earth.

Genesis 7:4
Seven days from now I will make it rain on the earth 40 days and 40 nights, and I will wipe off from the face of the earth every living thing I have made."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

O wretched man that I am,.... Not as considered in Christ, for as such he was a most happy man, being blessed with all spiritual blessings, and secure from all condemnation and wrath; nor with respect to his inward man, which was renewing day by day, and in which he enjoyed true spiritual peace and pleasure; nor with regard to his future state, of the happiness of which he had no doubt: he knew in whom he had believed; he was fully persuaded nothing could separate him from the love of God; and that when he had finished his course, he should have the crown of righteousness laid up for him: but this exclamation he made on account of the troubles he met with in his Christian race; and not so much on account of his reproaches, persecutions, and distresses for Christ's sake; though these were many and great, yet these did not move or much affect him, he rather took delight and pleasure in them; but on account of that continual combat between, the flesh and spirit in him; or by reason of that mass of corruption and body of sin he carried about with him; ranch such a complaint Isaiah makes, Isaiah 6:5, which in the Septuagint is,

ω ταλας εγω, "O miserable I". This shows him to be, and to speak of himself as a regenerate man; since an unregenerate man feels no uneasiness upon that score, or makes any complaint of it, saying as here,

who shall deliver me from the body of this death? or "this body of death"; by which some understand, this mortal body, or the body of flesh subject to death for sin; and suppose the apostle expresses his desire to quit it, to depart out of it, that he might enjoy an immortal life, being weary of the burden of this mortal body he carried about with him: so Philo the Jew s represents the body as a burden to the soul, which νεκροφορουσα, "it carries about as a dead carcass", and never lays down from his birth till his death: though it should be observed, that when the apostle elsewhere expresses an earnest longing after a state of immortality and glory, some sort of reluctance and unwillingness to leave the body is to be observed, which is not to be discerned here; and was this his sense, one should think he would rather have said, when shall I be delivered? or why am I not delivered? and not who shall deliver me? though admitting this to be his meaning, that he was weary of the present life, and wanted to be rid of his mortal body, this did not arise from the troubles and anxieties of life, with which he was pressed, which oftentimes make wicked men long to die; but from the load of sin, and burden of corruption, under which he groaned, and still bespeaks him a regenerate man; for not of outward calamities, but of indwelling sin is he all along speaking in the context: wherefore it is better by "this body of death" to understand what he in Romans 6:6 calls "the body of sin"; that mass of corruption that lodged in him, which is called "a body", because of its fleshly carnal nature; because of its manner of operation, it exerts itself by the members of the body; and because it consists of various parts and members, as a body does; and "a body of death", because it makes men liable to death: it was that which the apostle says "slew" him, and which itself is to a regenerate man, as a dead carcass, stinking and loathsome; and is to him like that punishment Mezentius inflicted on criminals, by fastening a living body to a putrid carcass t: and it is emphatically called the body of "this death", referring to the captivity of his mind, to the law of sin, which was as death unto him: and no wonder therefore he so earnestly desires deliverance, saying, "who shall deliver me?" which he speaks not as being ignorant of his deliverer, whom he mentions with thankfulness in Romans 7:25; or as doubting and despairing of deliverance, for he was comfortably assured of it, and therefore gives thanks beforehand for it; but as expressing the inward pantings, and earnest breathings of his soul after it; and as declaring the difficulty of it, yea, the impossibility of its being obtained by himself, or by any other than he, whom he had in view: he knew he could not deliver himself from sin; that the law could not deliver him; and that none but God could do it; and which he believed he would, through Jesus Christ his Lord.

s De Agricultura, p. 191. t Alexander ab. Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 3. c. 5,

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

O wretched man that I am! - The feeling implied by this lamentation is the result of this painful conflict; and this frequent subjection to sinful propensities. The effect of this conflict is,

(1) To produce pain and distress. It is often an agonizing struggle between good and evil; a struggle which annoys the peace, and renders life wretched.

(2) It tends to produce humility. It is humbling to man to be thus under the influence of evil passions. It is degrading to his nature; a stain on his glory; and it tends to bring him into the dust, that he is under the control of such propensities, and so often gives indulgence to them. In such circumstances, the mind is overwhelmed with wretchedness, and instinctively sighs for relief. Can the Law aid? Can man aid? Can any native strength of conscience or of reason aid? In vain all these are tried, and the Christian then calmly and thankfully acquiesces in the consolations of the apostle, that aid can be obtained only through Jesus Christ.

Who shall deliver me - Who shall rescue me; the condition of a mind in deep distress, and conscious of its own weakness, and looking for aid.

The body of this death - Margin, “This body of death.” The word “body” here is probably used as equivalent to flesh, denoting the corrupt and evil propensities of the soul; Note, Romans 7:18. It is thus used to denote the law of sin in the members, as being that with which the apostle was struggling, and from which he desired to be delivered. The expression “body of this death” is a Hebraism, denoting a body deadly in its tendency; and the whole expression may mean the corrupt principles of man; the carnal, evil affections that lead to death or to condemnation. The expression is one of vast strength, and strongly characteristic of the apostle Paul. It indicates,

1. That it was near him, attending him, and was distressing in its nature.

(2)An earnest wish to be delivered from it.

Some have supposed that he refers to a custom practiced by ancient tyrants, of binding a dead body to a captive as a punishment, and compelling him to drag the cumbersome and offensive burden with him wherever he went. I do not see any evidence that the apostle had this in view. But such a fact may be used as a striking and perhaps not improper illustration of the meaning of the apostle here. No strength of words could express deeper feeling; none more feelingly indicate the necessity of the grace of God to accomplish that to which the unaided human powers are incompetent.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Romans 7:24. O wretched man that I am, c.] This affecting account is finished more impressively by the groans of the wounded captive. Having long maintained a useless conflict against innumerable hosts and irresistible might, he is at last wounded and taken prisoner and to render his state more miserable, is not only encompassed by the slaughtered, but chained to a dead body; for there seems to be here an allusion to an ancient custom of certain tyrants, who bound a dead body to a living man, and obliged him to carry it about, till the contagion from the putrid mass took away his life! Virgil paints this in all its horrors, in the account he gives of the tyrant Mezentius. AEneid, lib. viii. ver. 485.

Quid memorem infandas caedes? quid facta tyranni?

MORTUA quin etiam jungebat corpora VIVIS,

Componens manibusque manus, atque oribus ora;

Tormenti genus! et sanie taboque fluentes

Complexu in misero, longa sic morte necabat.

What tongue can such barbarities record,

Or count the slaughters of his ruthless sword?

'Twas not enough the good, the guiltless bled,

Still worse, he bound the living to the dead:

These, limb to limb, and face to face, he joined;

O! monstrous crime, of unexampled kind!

Till choked with stench, the lingering wretches lay,

And, in the loathed embraces, died away! Pitt.

Servius remarks, in his comment on this passage, that sanies, mortui est; tabo, viventis scilicet sanguis: "the sanies, or putrid ichor, from the dead body, produced the tabes in the blood of the living." Roasting, burning, racking, crucifying, c., were nothing when compared to this diabolically invented punishment.

We may naturally suppose that the cry of such a person would be, Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this dead body? And how well does this apply to the case of the person to whom the apostle refers! A body-a whole mass of sin and corruption, was bound to his soul with chains which he could not break and the mortal contagion, transfused through his whole nature, was pressing him down to the bitter pains of an eternal death. He now finds that the law can afford him no deliverance; and he despairs of help from any human being; but while he is emitting his last, or almost expiring groan, the redemption by Christ Jesus is proclaimed to him; and, if the apostle refers to his own case, Ananias unexpectedly accosts him with-Brother Saul! the Lord Jesus, who appeared unto thee in the way, hath sent me unto thee, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. He sees then an open door of hope, and he immediately, though but in the prospect of this deliverance, returns God thanks for the well-grounded hope which he has of salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord.