26. I hold, therefore, this to be good because of the present distress, that it is good for a man to be thus:
27. Art thou bound unto a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife.
28. But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have affliction in the flesh, but I forbear you.
29. But this I say, brothers, the time is short; for the rest, let those that have wives be as though they had none;
30. and those that weep, as though they wept not; and those that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and those that buy, as though they possessed not;
31. and those that use this world, as not using it as their own, for the fashion of this world passes away.
32. But I would have you without worry. He that is unmarried cares for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord;
33. but he that is married cares for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.
34. There is a difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit; but she that is married cares for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.
35. And this I speak for your own profit, not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is honourable and that ye may attend upon the Lord without impediment.