Sha'ul's First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 7
{7:1} Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me: it is
good for a man not to touch a woman. {7:2} But, because of sexual
immoralities, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have
her own husband. {7:3} Let the husband render to his wife the
affection owed her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. {7:4}
The wife doesn't have authority over her own body, but the husband.
Likewise also the husband doesn't have authority over his own body,
but the wife. {7:5} Don't deprive one another, unless it is by consent
for a season, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and
may be together again, that Hasatan doesn't tempt you because of your
lack of self-control.
{7:6} But this I say by way of concession, not of [1>]mitzvah[<1].
{7:7} Yet I wish that all men were like me. However each man has his
own gift from God, one of this kind, and another of that kind. {7:8}
But I say to the unmarried and to widows, it is good for them if they
remain even as I am. {7:9} But if they don't have self-control, let
them marry. For it's better to marry than to burn. {7:10} But to the
married I command--not I, but the Lord--that the wife not leave her
husband {7:11} (but if she departs, let her remain unmarried, or else
be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband not leave his wife.
{7:12} But to the rest I--not the Lord--say, if any brother has an
unbelieving wife, and she is content to live with him, let him not
leave her. {7:13} The woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he is
content to live with her, let her not leave her husband. {7:14} For
the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving
wife is sanctified in the husband. Otherwise your children would be
unclean, but now are they holy. {7:15} Yet if the unbeliever departs,
let there be separation. The brother or the sister is not under
bondage in such cases, but God has called us in shalom. {7:16} For how
do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you
know, husband, whether you will save your wife? {7:17} Only, as the
Lord has distributed to each man, as God has called each, so let him
walk. So I command in all the assemblies.
{7:18} Was anyone called having been circumcised? Let him not become
uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? Let him not
be circumcised. {7:19} Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is
nothing, but the keeping of the [2>]mitzvot[<2] of God. {7:20} Let
each man stay in that calling in which he was called. {7:21} Were you
called being a bondservant? Don't let that bother you, but if you get
an opportunity to become free, use it. {7:22} For he who was called in
the Lord being a bondservant is the Lord's free man. Likewise he who
was called being free is Messiah's bondservant. {7:23} You were bought
with a price. Don't become bondservants of men. {7:24} Brothers, let
each man, in whatever condition he was called, stay in that condition
with God.
{7:25} Now concerning virgins, I have no [3>]mitzvah[<3] from the
Lord, but I give my judgment as one who has obtained mercy from the
Lord to be trustworthy. {7:26} I think that it is good therefore,
because of the distress that is on us, that it is good for a man to be
as he is. {7:27} Are you bound to a wife? Don't seek to be freed. Are
you free from a wife? Don't seek a wife. {7:28} 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. {7:29} 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; {7:30} 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;
{7:31} and those who use the world, as not using it to the fullest.
For the mode of this world passes away. {7:32} 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; {7:33} but he who is
married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please
his wife. {7:34} 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.
{7:35} This I say for your own profit; not that I may ensnare you, but
for that which is appropriate, and that you may attend to the Lord
without distraction. {7:36} But if any man thinks that he is behaving
inappropriately toward his virgin, if she is past the flower of her
age, and if need so requires, let him do what he desires. He doesn't
sin. Let them marry. {7:37} But he who stands steadfast in his heart,
having no necessity, but has power over his own heart, to keep his own
virgin, does well. {7:38} So then both he who gives his own virgin in
marriage does well, and he who doesn't give her in marriage does
better. {7:39} A wife is bound by law for as long as her husband
lives; but if the husband is dead, she is free to be married to
whoever she desires, only in the Lord. {7:40} But she is happier if
she stays as she is, in my judgment, and I think that I also have
God's Spirit.
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Footnotes:
[1] {7:6} commandment
[2] {7:19} commandments
[3] {7:25} commandment
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