7:1   Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it proves wise for a man not to touch a woman.

7:2  But because of immoralities, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband.

7:3   The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband.

7:4   The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

7:5   Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

7:6  But this I say by way of concession, not of command.

7:7   Yet I wish that all men could live as I do However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that.

7:8   But I say to the unmarried and to widows that they should remain even as I.

7:9   But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it shows better sense to marry than to burn with passion.

7:10  But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband

7:11   (but if she does leave, she must remain unmarried, or else become reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife.

7:12   But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her.

7:13   And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not send her husband away.

7:14   For the unbelieving husband receives sanctification through his wife, and the unbelieving wife receives sanctification through her believing husband; for otherwise people would consider your children unclean, but now people regard them as holy.

7:15   Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister has not placed themselves under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace.

7:16   For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

7:17   Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk And so I direct in all the churches.

7:18   Did any man receive a calling when he had already undergone circumcision? He should not try to become uncircumcised. Has anyone receives calling in uncircumcision? He does not have to become circumcised.

7:19   Circumcision equates to nothing, and uncircumcision equates to nothing, but what matters consists of the keeping of the commandments of God.

7:20   Each man must remain in that condition in which he received his calling.

7:21   Did you receive your calling while a slave? Do not worry about it; but if you can become free, rather do that.

7:22   For he who the Lord called when he still served as a slave, becomes the Lord's freedman; likewise he who received his calling as a free person becomes Christ's slave.

7:23   God bought you with a price; do not become slaves of men.

7:24   Brethren, each one should remain with God in that condition in which he received his calling.

7:25  Now concerning virgins I have no command of the Lord, but I give an opinion as one who by the mercy of the Lord proves trustworthy.

7:26   I think then that this seems good in view of the present distress, that it seems good for a man to remain as he finds himself now.

7:27   Have you bound yourself to a wife? Do not seek release. Have you released yourself from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

7:28   But if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such will have trouble in this life, and I have tried to spare you.

7:29   But this I say, brethren, the time has shortened, so that from now on those who have wives should live as though they had none;

7:30   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;

7:31  and those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the form of this world passes away.

7:32   But I want you to have freedom from concern. One who remains unmarried has the opportunity to concern himself about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord;

7:33  but one who marries concerns himself about the things of the world, how he may please his wife,

7:34  and his interests become divided. The woman who has not yet married, and the virgin, concerns herself about the things of the Lord, that she may demonstrate holiness both in body and spirit; but one who has married concerns herself about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

7:35  This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what we consider appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.

7:36   But if any man thinks that he acts unbecomingly toward his virgin daughter, if she has passed her youth, and if it must take place so, let him do what he wishes, he does not sin; let her marry.

7:37  But he who stands firm in his heart, feeling no constraint, but has authority over his own will, and has decided this in his own heart, to keep his own virgin daughter, he will do well.

7:38   So then both he who gives his own virgin daughter in marriage does well, and he who does not give her in marriage will do better.

7:39   A wife has bound herself as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she has the freedom to marry whom she wishes, only in the Lord.

7:40   But in my opinion she remains happier if she remains single; and I think that I also have the Spirit of God.