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

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

⁷ for I wish all men to be even as I myself `am'; but each his own gift hath of God, one indeed thus, and one thus.

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: --

²⁷ Hast thou been bound to a wife? seek not to be loosed; hast thou been loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.

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;

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.

³⁵ And this for your own profit I say: not that I may cast a noose upon you, but for the seemliness and devotedness to the Lord, undistractedly,