For that which I do I allow not:
for what I would, that do I not;
but what I hate, that do I.
Compare this to the Russian translation from 2006:
Я и сам не понимаю, что делаю.
То, что я хочу, я не делаю,
а вместо этого делаю то,
что не навижу.
'I myself do not understand what I am doing.
That which I want to do, do I not,
and instead of this I do that
which I hate'
The Martin Luther translation (the 1801 version is what I have and what I referenced), we find the following:
Denn ich weiß nicht, was ich thue;
denn ich thue nicht, das ich will,
sondern das ich hasse,
das thue ich.
'For I know not what I do;
for I do not that which I want,
rather that which I hate,
that do I.'
In the Ladino New Testament published in Constantinople in 1922, we read as follows (converted from the Rashi script to Hebrew and transliterated for ease in presenting):
;פּוֹרּקּיּ לּוֹ קּיּ ﬡוֹבֿרּוֹ, נּוֹ ﬥוֹ ﬧיּקּוֹנּוֹסּקּוֹ
;פּוֹרּקּיּ נּוֹ ﬥוֹ קּיּ קּיּיּרּוֹ, ﬡיּסּטּוֹ ﬡגּוֹ
.סּיּנּוֹ ﬥוֹ קּיּ ﬡבֿוֹרּיּסּקּוֹ, ﬡקּיּﬥיּיּוֹ ﬡגּוֹ
Porke lo ke ovro, no lo rekonosko;
porke no lo ke kiero, esto ago;
sino lo ke avoresko, akeliio ago.
For that which I work, I do not recognize;
for I do not that which I want,
rather that which I abhor, that do I.
These three translations (Russian, German and Ladino) offer insights into how the Greek could be understood. These three read with a clarity that the King James version somehow obfuscates. What I read in these verses, taken in context, is encouragement. Even Paul, the Apostle, struggled to accomplish the good he knew he must and that seemed so attainable, but for inner weaknesses. He never gave up the battle, he tried and tried again, but his weaknesses gave him humility, and ultimately compassion for others. In my own struggles to do not my will but that of God, I take comfort in this verse, at least in Russian, German and Ladino translation.
