²⁵But concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord; but I give my opinion, as having received mercy of the Lord to be faithful. ²⁶I think then that this is good, on account of the present necessity, that it is good for a man to remain so as he is. ²⁷Art thou bound to a wife? seek not to be loosed; art thou free from a wife? do not seek a wife. ²⁸But if thou shouldest also marry, thou hast not sinned; and if the virgin marry, they have not sinned: but such shall have tribulation in the flesh; but I spare you. ²⁹But this I say, brethren, the time is straitened. For the rest, that they who have wives, be as not having any: ³⁰and they that weep, as not weeping; and they that rejoice, as not rejoicing; and they that buy, as not possessing; ³¹and they that use the world, as not disposing of it as their own; for the fashion of this world passes. ³²But I wish you to be without care. The unmarried cares for the things of the Lord, how he shall please the Lord; ³³but he that has married cares for the things of the world, how he shall please his wife. ³⁴There is a difference between the wife and the virgin. The unmarried cares for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but she that has married cares for the things of the world, how she shall please her husband. ³⁵But I say this for your own profit; not that I may set a snare before you, but for what is seemly, and waiting on the Lord without distraction.

³⁶But if any one think that he behaves unseemly to his virginity, if he be beyond the flower of his age, and so it must be, let him do what he will, he does not sin: let them marry. ³⁷But he who stands firm in his heart, having no need, but has authority over his own will, and has judged this in his heart to keep his own virginity, he does well. ³⁸So that he that marries himself does well; and he that does not marry does better.

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