1 Corinthians 7
Revised Geneva Translation
7 Now, concerning the things about which you wrote to me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman.
2 Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have a wife for himself, and let every woman have her own husband.
3 Let the husband give to the wife her due affection, and likewise also the wife to the husband.
4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband. And likewise, also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife.
5 Do not deprive one another, unless with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer. And come together again, so that Satan does not tempt you for your intemperance.
6 Yet, I speak this by permission, not by commandment.
7 For I would that all were still as I myself. But everyone has his proper gift from God, one after this manner, and another after that.
8 Therefore I say to the unmarried, and to the widows, it is good for them if they remain just as I.
9 But if they cannot abstain, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn.
10 And to the married, I command: (not I, but the Lord) Let not the wife leave her husband.
11 But if she does leave, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband. And let not the husband leave his wife.
12 Now, to the rest I speak (I, not the Lord). If any brother has a wife who does not believe, if she is content to dwell with him, let him not leave her.
13 And the woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is content to dwell with her, let her not leave him.
14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified in the husband, or else your children would be unclean. But now they are holy.
15 But, if the unbeliever leaves, let him leave. A brother or a sister is not in bondage in such cases. But God has called us into peace.
16 For how do you know, O wife, whether you shall save your husband? Or how do you know, O man, whether you shall save your wife?
17 But as God has distributed to everyone, as the Lord has called everyone, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all churches.
18 Is any man called circumcised? Let him not be uncircumcised. Is any called uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised.
19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.
20 Let everyone remain in the same vocation to which he was called.
21 Are you called as a slave? Do not worry. But if you still may be free, rather use that.
22 For he who is called in the Lord as a slave is the Lord’s freeman. Likewise, he who is called in freedom, is Christ’s slave.
23 You are bought with a price. Do not become the slaves of man.
24 Brothers, let everyone, wherein he was called, remain therein with God.
25 Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord. But I give my advice, as one who has obtained mercy from the Lord to be faithful.
26 Because of this present constraint, I assume that it is good, and that it is good for anyone to be so.
27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.
28 But if you take a wife, you do not sin. And if a virgin marries, she does not sin. Nevertheless, such shall have trouble in the flesh. But I am sparing you.
29 And this I say, brothers, because 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 this world as though they do not abuse it. For the appearance of this world is passing away.
32 And I would have you without cares. The unmarried cares for things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord.
33 But he who is married cares for the things of the world, how he may please his wife.
34 Also, there is difference between a virgin and a wife. The unmarried woman cares for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy, both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.
35 And this I speak for your own benefit. Not to tangle you in a snare, but that you may be respectable and serve the Lord without distraction.
36 But if any man thinks he is behaving less than optimally toward his virgin, if she has passed the flower of her age, and so requires, let him do what he will. He does not sin. Let her be married.
37 Nevertheless, he who stands firm in his heart, that he has no need, but has power over his own will, and has so decreed in his heart, that he will watch over his virgin, he does well.
38 So then, he who gives her to marriage, does well. But he who does not give her to marriage, does better.
39 The wife is bound by the law, as long as her husband lives. But if her husband is dead, she is free to marry whomever she wishes, only in the Lord.
40 But she is more blessed if she so remains, in my judgment. And I think that I also have the Spirit of God.
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