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.

³⁹A wife is bound for whatever time her husband lives; but if the husband be fallen asleep, she is free to be married to whom she will, only in the Lord. ⁴⁰But she is happier if she so remain, according to my judgment; but I think that I also have God’s Spirit.

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