³⁸ so that both he who is giving in marriage doth well, and he who is not giving in marriage doth better.

⁴ honourable `is' the marriage in all, and the bed undefiled, and whoremongers and adulterers God shall judge.

³⁷ And 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;

¹ And concerning the things of which ye wrote to me: good `it is' for a man not to touch a woman,

² and because of the whoredom let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her proper husband;

⁸ And I say to the unmarried and to the widows: it is good for them if they may remain even as I `am';

²⁶ I suppose, therefore, this to be good because of the present necessity, that `it is' good for a man that the matter be thus: --

³² And I wish you to be without anxiety; the unmarried is anxious for the things of the Lord, how he shall please the Lord;

³³ and the married is anxious for the things of the world, how he shall please the wife.

³⁴ The 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.