1 Corinthians 7

1Concerning the matters you wrote about: it is good for a man not to touch a woman.

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

3The husband must give to his wife her marital duty, and likewise the wife to her husband.

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

5Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by mutual agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

6But I say this as a concession, not as a command.

7But I want all men to be as I myself am. Yet each has his own gift from God, one in this way and another in that way.

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

9But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn.

10To the married I give this command—not I, but the Lord: a wife must not separate from her husband—

11But if she does separate, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband—and a husband must not divorce his wife.

12But to the rest I say—I, not the Lord—if any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her.

13And if a woman has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not leave her husband.

14For the unbelieving husband has been made holy through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been made holy through the brother; otherwise your children are unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

15But if the unbeliever separates, let him separate. The brother or the sister is not enslaved in such cases, but God has called us in peace.

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

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

18Was anyone called while circumcised? He should not try to reverse it. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? He should not be circumcised.

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

20Each one should remain in the calling in which he was called.

21Were you called as a servant? Do not let it trouble you. But if indeed you are able to become free, rather make use of it.

22For the servant who was called in the Lord is the Lord’s freedman; likewise, the free man who was called is Messiah’s servant.

23You were bought with a price; do not become servants of men.

24Brothers, let each one remain with God in that condition in which he was called.

25Concerning virgins, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.

26Therefore I think this is good because of the present distress: that it is good for a man to remain as he is.

27Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek release. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

28But even if you marry, you have not sinned; and if the virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such people will have tribulation in the flesh, and I am sparing you.

29This is what I mean, brothers: the time has been shortened, so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though they had none,

30and those who weep as not weeping, and those who rejoice as not rejoicing, and those who buy as not possessing,

31and those who use the world as not making full use of it; for the present form of this world is passing away.

32But I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is concerned with the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord;

33But the married man is concerned with the things of the world, how he may please his wife,

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

35I say this for your own benefit, not to put a noose on you, but for what is proper and for undistracted devotion to the Lord.

36But if anyone thinks he is behaving improperly toward his virgin, if she is past her youth and it ought to be so, let him do what he wants; he is not sinning. Let them marry.

37But whoever stands firm in his heart, having no necessity, but has authority over his own will, and has decided this in his own heart—to keep his own virgin—he will do well.

38So then, the one who gives his own virgin in marriage does well, and the one who does not give her in marriage will do better.

39A wife is bound for as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.

40But she is happier if she remains as she is, according to my judgment—and I think that I also have the Spirit of God.