1 Corinthians 7:25-38

Holman Christian Standard Bible

About the Unmarried and Widows

²⁵ About virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I do give an opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy^(A) is trustworthy.^{(B) 26} Therefore I consider this to be good because of the present distress: It is fine for a man to remain as he is. ²⁷ Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife. ²⁸ However, if you do get married,^(C) you have not sinned, and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But such people will have trouble in this life,^[a] and I am trying to spare you. ²⁹ And I say this, brothers: The time is limited,^(D) so from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none, ³⁰ those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice^(E) as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess, ³¹ and those who use the world as though they did not make full use of it. For this world in its current form is passing away.^(F)

³² I want you to be without concerns. An unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord—how he may please^(G) the Lord. ³³ But a married man is concerned about the things of the world—how he may please his wife— ³⁴ and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or a virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord,^(H) so that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the things of the world—how she may please her husband. ³⁵ Now I am saying this for your own benefit, not to put a restraint on you, but because of what is proper and so that you may be devoted to the Lord without distraction.

³⁶ But if any man thinks he is acting improperly toward his virgin,^[b] if she is past marriageable age,^[c] and so it must be, he can do what he wants. He is not sinning; they can get married. ³⁷ But he who stands firm in his heart (who is under no compulsion, but has control over his own will^(I)) and has decided in his heart to keep his own virgin, will do well. ³⁸ So then he who marries^[d] his virgin does well, but he who does not marry^[e] will do better.