⁸ But I say to the unmarried and to widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I.

¹ Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.

⁷ Yet I would that all men were even as I myself. Howbeit each man hath his own gift from God, one after this manner, and another after that.

²⁶ I think therefore that this is good by reason of the distress that is upon us, `namely,' that it is good for a man to be as he is.

²⁷ Art thou bound unto a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife.

³² But I would have you to be free from cares. He that is unmarried is careful for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord:

³⁴ and is divided. `So' also the woman that is unmarried and the virgin is careful for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married is careful for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

³⁵ And this I say for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is seemly, and that ye may attend upon the Lord without distraction.