| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | New International Version |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1Now for the matters you wrote about: "It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman." |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6I say this as a concession, not as a command. |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife. |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches. |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God's commands is what counts. |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20Each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them. |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you--although if you can gain your freedom, do so. |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord's freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ's slave. |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings. |
| 24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 24Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them. |
| 25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 25Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. |
| 26[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 26Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is. |
| 27[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 27Are you pledged to a woman? Do not seek to be released. Are you free from such a commitment? Do not look for a wife. |
| 28[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 28But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this. |
| 29[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 29What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; |
| 30[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 30those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; |
| 31[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 31those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away. |
| 32[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 32I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord's affairs--how he can please the Lord. |
| 33[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 33But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world--how he can please his wife-- |
| 34[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 34and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord's affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world--how she can please her husband. |
| 35[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 35I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord. |
| 36[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 36If anyone is worried that he might not be acting honorably toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if his passions are too strong and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married. |
| 37[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 37But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin--this man also does the right thing. |
| 38[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 38So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does better. |
| 39[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 39A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord. |
| 40[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 40In my judgment, she is happier if she stays as she is--and I think that I too have the Spirit of God. |
| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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