Romans 7:10

New Living Translation

and I died. So I discovered that the law's commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead.

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
and I died spiritually. The command was meant to bring life, but for me it brought death.

Revised Standard Version
the very commandment which promised life proved to be death to me.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And the very same comaundement which was ordeyned vnto lyfe was founde to be vnto me an occasion of deeth.

Hebrew Names Version
The mitzvah, which was to life, this I found to be to death;

International Standard Version
and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.Leviticus 18:5; Ezekiel 20:11,13, 21; 2 Corinthians 3:7;">[xr]

New American Standard Bible
and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me;

New Century Version
and I died. The command was meant to bring life, but for me it brought death.

Update Bible Version
and I died, and the commandment, which [was] to life, this I found [to be] to death:

Webster's Bible Translation
And the commandment which [was ordained] to life, I found [to be] to death.

English Standard Version
The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.

World English Bible
The commandment, which was to life, this I found to be to death;

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
sin revived, and I died, And the commandment, which was intended for life, this I found unto death.

Weymouth's New Testament
and, as it turned out, the very Commandment which was to bring me life, brought me death.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
But Y was deed, and this comaundement that was to lijf, was foundun to me, to be to deth.

English Revised Version
and the commandment, which was unto life, this I found to be unto death:

Berean Standard Bible
So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death.

Contemporary English Version
and I died. The very command that was supposed to bring life to me, instead brought death.

Amplified Bible
And the very commandment which was intended to bring life, actually proved to bring death for me.

American Standard Version
and the commandment, which was unto life, this I found to be unto death:

Bible in Basic English
And I made the discovery that the law whose purpose was to give life had become a cause of death:

Complete Jewish Bible
and I died. The commandment that was intended to bring me life was found to be bringing me death!

Darby Translation
And the commandment, which [was] for life, was found, [as] to me, itself [to be] unto death:

Etheridge Translation
And that commandment of life was found to me (to tend) unto death.

Murdock Translation
and the commandment of life was found by me [fn] unto death.

King James Version (1611)
And the commandement which was ordained to life, I found to be vnto death.

New Life Bible
The Law was supposed to give me new life. Instead, it gave me death.

New Revised Standard
and I died, and the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.

Geneva Bible (1587)
But I died: and the same commandement which was ordeined vnto life, was found to be vnto me vnto death.

George Lamsa Translation
And the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be for death.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Whereas, I, died, - and the commandment which was unto life was found by me to be, itself, unto death;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And I died. And the commandment that was ordained to life, the same was found to be unto death to me.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And I was dead. And the very same commaundemet, which was ordeyned vnto lyfe, was founde to be vnto me an occasion of death.

Good News Translation
and I died. And the commandment which was meant to bring life, in my case brought death.

Christian Standard Bible®
and I died. The commandment that was meant for life resulted in death for me.

King James Version
And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.

Lexham English Bible
and I died, and this commandment which was to lead to life was found with respect to me to lead to death.

Literal Translation
And the commandment which was to life, this was found to be death to me;

Young's Literal Translation
and the command that [is] for life, this was found by me for death;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And the very same commaundement that was geuen me vnto life, was founde to be vnto me on occasion of death.

Mace New Testament (1729)
and the commandment which leads to life was instrumental to my ruin.

New English Translation
and I died. So I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death!

New King James Version
And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.

Simplified Cowboy Version
This, and other sins, only lead to death. The Code that should have brought me life only showed me how much I deserved death.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me;

Legacy Standard Bible
and this commandment, which was to lead to life, was found to lead to death for me.

Contextual Overview

⁷ Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, "You must not covet." ⁸ But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. ⁹ At one time I lived without understanding the law. But when I learned the command not to covet, for instance, the power of sin came to life, ¹⁰ and I died. So I discovered that the law's commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead. ¹¹ Sin took advantage of those commands and deceived me; it used the commands to kill me. ¹² But still, the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good. ¹³ But how can that be? Did the law, which is good, cause my death? Of course not! Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation to death. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God's good commands for its own evil purposes.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Romans 10:5, Leviticus 18:5, Ezekiel 20:11, Ezekiel 20:13, Ezekiel 20:21, Luke 10:27-29, 2 Corinthians 3:7

Reciprocal: Genesis 2:17 - surely Galatians 5:17 - and these

Cross-References

Genesis 6:17
"Look! I am about to cover the earth with a flood that will destroy every living thing that breathes. Everything on earth will die.

Genesis 7:4
Seven days from now I will make the rains pour down on the earth. And it will rain for forty days and forty nights, until I have wiped from the earth all the living things I have created."

Genesis 7:17
For forty days the floodwaters grew deeper, covering the ground and lifting the boat high above the earth.

Genesis 7:20
rising more than twenty-two feet above the highest peaks.

Job 22:16
They were snatched away in the prime of life, the foundations of their lives washed away.

Luke 17:27
In those days, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came and destroyed them all.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the commandment which was ordained to life,.... The law which promised a continuance of an immortal life to Adam, in case of perfect obedience to it; and which was appointed to the Israelites, that by the observation of it they might live in the land of Canaan, and in the quiet and full possession of their privileges and enjoyments; but was never ordained to eternal life, or that men should obtain that by their obedience to it; since eternal life is the free gift of God, without respect to any works of men; see Galatians 3:21; This same law, the apostle says,

I found to be unto death; as it was an occasion, through the vitiosity of nature, of stirring up sin in him, which brought forth fruit unto death; as it convinced him that he was a dead man and worthy of death; as it threatened him with it, and struck all his hopes of eternal life dead, and left him in this condition without giving him the least direction or assistance whereby to obtain life.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the commandment - The Law to which he had referred before.

Which was ordained to life - Which was intended to produce life, or happiness. Life here stands opposed to death, and means felicity, peace, eternal bliss; Note, John 3:36. When the apostle says that it was ordained to life, he probably has reference to the numerous passages in the Old Testament which speak of the Law in this manner, Leviticus 18:5, “Ye shall keep my statutes and my judgments; which if a man do, he shall live in them,” Ezekiel 20:11, Ezekiel 20:13, Ezekiel 20:21; Ezekiel 18:9, Ezekiel 18:21. The meaning of these passages, in connection with this declaration of Paul, may be thus expressed:

1. The Law is good; it has no evil, and is itself suited to produce no evil.

(2)If man was pure, and it was obeyed perfectly, it would produce life and happiness only. On those who have obeyed it in heaven, it has produced only happiness.

(3)For this it was ordained; it is adapted to it; and when perfectly obeyed, it produces no other effect. But,

1. Man is a sinner; he has not obeyed it; and in such a case the Law threatens woe.

It crosses the inclination of man, and instead of producing peace and life, as it would on a being perfectly holy, it produces only woe and crime. The law of a parent may be good, and may be appointed to promote the happiness of his children; it may be admirably suited to it if all were obedient; yet in the family there may be one obstinate, self-willed, and stubborn child, resolved to indulge his evil passions, and the results to him would be woe and despair. The commandment, which was ordained for the good of the family, and which would be adapted to promote their welfare, he alone, of all the number, would find to be unto death.

I found - It was to me. It produced this effect.

Unto death - Producing aggravated guilt and condemnation, Romans 7:9.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Romans 7:10. And the commandment — Meaning the law in general, which was ordained to life; the rule of righteousness teaching those statutes which if a man do he shall live in them, Leviticus 18:5, I found, by transgressing it, to be unto death; for it only presented the duty and laid down the penalty, without affording any strength to resist sin or subdue evil propensities.