1. Now concerning the things of which you wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.
2. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
3. Let the husband render unto the wife her due: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
4. The wife has not power over her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband has not power over his own body, but the wife.
5. Deprive not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your lack of self-control.
6. But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment.
7. For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man has his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.
8. I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.
9. But if they cannot have self-control, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
10. And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:
11. But if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.