23. You were bought with a price. Don’t become bondservants of men.
24. Brothers, let each man, in whatever condition he was called, stay in that condition with God.
25. Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who has obtained mercy from the Lord to be trustworthy.
26. Therefore I think that because of the distress that is on us, that it’s good for a man to remain as he is.
27. Are you bound to a wife? Don’t seek to be freed. Are you free from a wife? Don’t seek a wife.
28. But if you marry, you have not sinned. If a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such will have oppression in the flesh, and I want to spare you.
29. But I say this, brothers: the time is short, that from now on, both those who have wives may be as though they had none;
30. and those who weep, as though they didn’t weep; and those who rejoice, as though they didn’t rejoice; and those who buy, as though they didn’t possess;
31. and those who use the world, as not using it to the fullest. For the mode of this world passes away.
32. But I desire to have you to be free from cares. He who is unmarried is concerned for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord;
33. but he who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife.
34. There is also a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she who is married cares about the things of the world—how she may please her husband.