¹ Now concerning the things about which you wrote to me: it is good for a man not to touch a woman.

⁸ But I say to the unmarried and to widows, it is good for them if they remain even as I am.

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.

²⁷ Are you bound to a wife? Don't seek to be freed. Are you free from a wife? Don't seek a wife.

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.

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.

⁶ God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also withheld you from sinning against me. Therefore I didn't allow you to touch her.

⁹ Let your eyes be on the field that they reap, and go after them: haven't I charged the young men that they shall not touch you? and when you are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn.

²⁹ So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife. Whoever touches her will not be unpunished.

¹⁰ His disciples said to him, "If this is the case of the man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry."

¹¹ But he said to them, "Not all men can receive this saying, but those to whom it is given.