1 Corinthians 7

1 Now concerning the things about which you wrote: it is good for a man not to touch a woman.

2 But, because of sexual immoralities, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.

3 Let the husband fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband.

4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband. Likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife.

5 Do not deprive one another, unless it is by consent for a season, that you may give yourselves to prayer, and may be together again, that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

6 But this I say by way of concession, not of commandment.

7 Yet I wish that all people were like me. However each one has his own gift from God, one of this kind, and another of that kind.

8 But I say to the unmarried and to widows, it is good for them if they remain even as I am.

9 But if they do not have self-control, let them marry. For it's better to marry than to burn.

10 But to the married I command—not I, but the Lord—that the wife not leave her husband

11 (but if she departs, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband not leave his wife.

12 But to the rest I—not the Lord—say, if any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she is content to live with him, let him not leave her.

13 The woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he is content to live with her, let her not leave her husband.

14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the brother. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.

15 Yet if the unbeliever departs, let there be separation. The brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called you to peace.

16 For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

17 Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, so let him walk. So I command in all the churches.

18 Was anyone called having been circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised.

19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.

20 Let each person stay in that calling in which he was called.

21 Were you called being a slave? Do not let that bother you, but if you get an opportunity to become free, use it.

22 For he who was called in the Lord being a slave is the Lord's free person. Likewise he who was called being free is Christ's slave.

23 You were bought with a price. Do not become slaves of people.

24 Brothers, let each one, in whatever condition he was called, stay in that condition with God.

25 Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who has obtained mercy from the Lord to be trustworthy.

26 I think that it is good therefore, because of the distress that is on us, that it is good for a person to remain as he is.

27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be freed. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

28 But if you marry, you have not sinned. If a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such will have oppression in the flesh, and I want to spare you.

29 But I say this, brothers: the time is short, that from now on, those who have wives should be as though they had none;

30 and those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess;

31 and those who use the world, as not using it to the fullest. For the form of this world is passing away.

32 But I desire to have you to be free from cares. He who is unmarried is concerned for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord;

33 but he who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife,

34 and is divided. And the woman that is unmarried, or a virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But the one that is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

35 This I say for your own profit; not that I may ensnare you, but for that which is appropriate, and that you may attend to the Lord without distraction.

36 But if anyone thinks that he is behaving inappropriately toward his virgin, if she is past the flower of her age, and if need so requires, let him do what he desires. He does not sin. Let them marry.

37 But he who stands steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but has power over his own heart, to keep his own virgin, does well.

38 So then both he who gives his own virgin in marriage does well, and he who does not give her in marriage does better.

39 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives; but if the husband is dead, she is free to be married to whomever she desires, only in the Lord.

40 But she is happier if she stays as she is, in my judgment, and I think that I also have God's Spirit.