³²And I wish you to be without anxiety; the unmarried is anxious for the things of the Lord, how he shall please the Lord; ³³and the married is anxious for the things of the world, how he shall please the wife. ³⁴The wife and the virgin have been distinguished: the unmarried is anxious for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit, and the married is anxious for the things of the world, how she shall please the husband. ³⁵And this for your own profit I say: not that I may cast a noose upon you, but for the seemliness and devotedness to the Lord, undistractedly.

³⁶And if any one doth think it to be unseemly to his virgin, if she may be beyond the bloom of age, and it ought so to be, what he willeth let him do; he doth not sin—let him marry. ³⁷And he who hath stood stedfast in the heart—not having necessity—and hath authority over his own will, and this he hath determined in his heart—to keep his own virgin—doth well; ³⁸so that both he who is giving in marriage doth well, and he who is not giving in marriage doth better.

³⁹A wife hath been bound by law as long time as her husband may live, and if her husband may sleep, she is free to be married to whom she will—only in the Lord; ⁴⁰and she is happier if she may so remain—according to my judgment; and I think I also have the Spirit of God.

Chapter 8

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