^{26 Ref} 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 Ref} Are you bound to a wife? Don't seek to be freed. Are you free from a wife? Don't seek a wife.

^{28 Ref} 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.

^{29 Ref} 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;

^{30 Ref} 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;

^{31 Ref} and those who use the world, as not using it to the fullest. For the mode of this world passes away.

^{32 Ref} 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;