| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1Now in response to the matters you wrote about: "It is good for a man not to have relations with a woman." |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2But because sexual immorality is so common, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband. |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3A husband should fulfill his marital responsibility to his wife, and likewise a wife to her husband. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4A wife does not have the right over her own body, but her husband does. In the same way, a husband does not have the right over his own body, but his wife does. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5Do not deprive one another sexually--except when you agree for a time, to devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again; otherwise, Satan may tempt you because of your lack of self-control. |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6I say the following as a concession, not as a command. |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7I wish that all people were just like me. But each has his own gift from God, one person in this way and another in that way. |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8I say to the unmarried and to widows: It is good for them if they remain as I am. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9But if they do not have self-control, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with desire. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10I command the married--not I, but the Lord--a wife is not to leave her husband. |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11But if she does leave, she must remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband--and a husband is not to leave his wife. |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12But I (not the Lord) say to the rest: If any brother has an unbelieving wife and she is willing to live with him, he must not leave her. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13Also, if any woman has an unbelieving husband and he is willing to live with her, she must not leave her husband. |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14For the unbelieving husband is set apart for God by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is set apart for God by the husband. Otherwise your children would be corrupt, but now they are set apart for God. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15But if the unbeliever leaves, let him leave. A brother or a sister is not bound in such cases. God has called you to live in peace. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16For you, wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband? Or you, husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife? |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17However, each one must live his life in the situation the Lord assigned when God called him. This is what I command in all the churches. |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18Was anyone already circumcised when he was called? He should not undo his circumcision. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? He should not get circumcised. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19Circumcision does not matter and uncircumcision does not matter, but keeping God's commands does. |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20Each person should remain in the life situation in which he was called. |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21Were you called while a slave? It should not be a concern to you. But if you can become free, by all means take the opportunity. |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22For he who is called by the Lord as a slave is the Lord's freedman. Likewise he who is called as a free man is Christ's slave. |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. |
| 24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 24Brothers, each person should remain with God in whatever situation he was called. |
| 25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 25About virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I do give an opinion as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. |
| 26[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 26Therefore I consider this to be good because of the present distress: It is fine for a man to remain as he is. |
| 27[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 27Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife. |
| 28[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 28However, if you do get married, you have not sinned, and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But such people will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you. |
| 29[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 29And I say this, brothers: The time is limited, so from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none, |
| 30[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 30those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess, |
| 31[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 31and those who use the world as though they did not make full use of it. For this world in its current form is passing away. |
| 32[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 32I want you to be without concerns. An unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord--how he may please the Lord. |
| 33[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 33But a married man is concerned about the things of the world--how he may please his wife-- |
| 34[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 34and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or a virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the things of the world--how she may please her husband. |
| 35[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 35Now I am saying this for your own benefit, not to put a restraint on you, but because of what is proper and so that you may be devoted to the Lord without distraction. |
| 36[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 36But if any man thinks he is acting improperly toward his virgin, if she is past marriageable age, and so it must be, he can do what he wants. He is not sinning; they can get married. |
| 37[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 37But he who stands firm in his heart (who is under no compulsion, but has control over his own will) and has decided in his heart to keep his own virgin, will do well. |
| 38[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 38So then he who marries his virgin does well, but he who does not marry will do better. |
| 39[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 39A wife is bound as long as her husband is living. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to anyone she wants--only in the Lord. |
| 40[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 40But she is happier if she remains as she is, in my opinion. And I think that I also have the Spirit of God. |
|
