7:10a–b

So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death: The Greek begins with the word often translated “and.” The Berean Standard Bible translates this word as So. Here it indicates that Paul said something more about the commandment, life, and death. For example:

And the commandment… (Good News Translation)

7:10a

I discovered that: The Greek is literally “was found to/for me.” It indicates that as he lived he realized that trying to obey the commandment caused him to want to break it even more. It does not indicate that Paul was looking for the purpose of the commandment. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

it occurred to me that
-or-
proved in my experience (Revised English Bible)

7:10b

the very commandment: Here the word very indicates that the commandment connected to life is the same commandment connected to death. It emphasizes that it is the same commandment. For example:

the commandment which was intended to bring me life actually brought me death (God’s Word)
-or-
concerning the law…, it is the very law that…

that was meant to bring life: The Greek is literally “to/for life.” It indicates that the goal or intention of the commandment is life. Here are other ways to translate this Greek phrase:

that was for life (New American Bible, Revised Edition)
-or-
which was meant to be a direction to life (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
which should have led to life (Revised English Bible)
-or-
was given in order that people would know the path that leads to life

actually brought death: The Greek is literally “this (was) for death.” Instead of a goal of life, the commandment not to covet caused the goal to be death, because Paul wanted to break the commandment. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

it was for death
-or-
was a direction to death
-or-
to lead to death (Revised English Bible)
-or-
put me on the path that leads to death

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