7:1 Now concerning the things of which ye wrote to me: [It is]
good for a man not to touch a woman.
7:2 Nevertheless, [to avoid] lewdness, let every man have his
own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
7:3 Let the husband render to the wife due benevolence: and
likewise also the wife to the husband.
7:4 The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband:
and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body,
but the wife.
7:5 Defraud ye not one the other, except with consent for a
time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and
come together again, that Satan may not tempt you for your
incontinence.
7:6 But I speak this by permission, [and] not as a commandment.
7:7 For I would that all men were as I myself. But every man
hath his proper gift from God, one after this manner, and
another after that.
7:8 I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for
them if they remain even as I.
7:9 But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better
to marry than to burn.
7:10 And to the married I command, [yet] not I, but the Lord,
Let not the wife depart from [her] husband:
7:11 But if she shall depart, let her remain unmarried, or be
reconciled to [her] husband: and let not the husband put away
[his] wife.
7:12 But to the rest I speak, not the Lord, if any brother hath
a wife that believeth not, and she is pleased to dwell with
him, let him not put her away.
7:13 And the woman who hath a husband that believeth not, and if
he is pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.
7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and
the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were
your children unclean; but now are they holy.
7:15 But if the unbelieving departeth, let him depart. A brother
or a sister is not under bondage in such [cases]; but God hath
called us to peace.
7:16 For how knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save [thy]
husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save
[thy] wife?
7:17 But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath
called every one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all
churches.
7:18 Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become
uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not
become circumcised.
7:19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but
the keeping of the commandments of God.
7:20 Let every man continue in the same calling in which he was
called.
7:21 Art thou called [being] a servant? care not for it; but if
thou mayest be made free, use [it] rather.
7:22 For he that is called in the Lord, [being] a servant, is
the Lord's free-man: likewise also he that is called, [being]
free, is Christ's servant.
7:23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
7:24 Brethren, let every man in the state in which he is called,
continue in it with God.
7:25 Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord:
yet I give my judgment as one that hath obtained mercy from the
Lord to be faithful.
7:26 I suppose therefore that this is good for the present
distress, [I say], that [it is] good for a man so to be.
7:27 Art thou bound to a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou
loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.
7:28 But if thou marry, thou hast not sinned: and if a virgin
marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless, such will have
trouble in the flesh; but I spare you.
7:29 But this I say, brethren, The time [is] short. It
remaineth, that both they that have wives, be as though they
had none;
7:30 And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that
rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as
though they possessed not;
7:31 And they that use this world, as not abusing [it]. For the
fashion of this world passeth away.
7:32 But I would have you without anxious care. He that is
unmarried, is anxious for the things that belong to the Lord,
how he may please the Lord:
7:33 But he that is married, is anxious for the things that are
of the world, how he may please [his] wife.
7:34 There is a difference [also] between a wife and a virgin.
The unmarried woman is anxious for the things of the Lord, that
she may be holy, both in body and in spirit: but she that is
married, is anxious for the things of the world, how she may
please [her] husband.
7:35 And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a
snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may
attend upon the Lord without distraction.
7:36 But if any man thinketh that he behaveth himself uncomely
towards his virgin, if she hath passed the flower of [her] age,
and need so requireth, let him do what he will, he sinneth not:
let them marry.
7:37 Nevertheless, he that standeth steadfast in his heart,
having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath
so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, doeth
well.
7:38 So then he that giveth [her] in marriage doeth well; but he
that giveth [her] not in marriage doeth better.
7:39 The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth;
but if her husband is dead, she is at liberty to be married to
whom she will; only in the Lord.
7:40 But she is happier if she so remain, after my judgment; and
I think also that I have the Spirit of God.
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