1 Now concerning the matters you wrote about, it is good for a man {anthropo: human person} not to touch {haptesthai: sexual contact} a woman.
2 But because of sexual immoralities {porneias: illicit sexual acts}, each man should have {echeto: maintain marital bond} his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband.
3 The husband is to fulfill his obligation {opheilen: owed duty} to the wife, and likewise also the wife to the husband {aner: male partner}.
4 The wife holds no authority over her own body; that authority belongs to her husband {aner: male spouse}. In the same way, the husband holds no authority over his own body; that authority belongs to his wife {gyne: female partner}.
5 Do not deprive {apostereite: withhold what is due} one another, unless perhaps by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer; then come together again, so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control {akrasia: inability to restrain}.
6 But I say this by concession {syngnome: voluntary allowance}, not by command {epitage: authoritative directive}.
7 But I wish that all men were as I myself am. However, each has his own gift from God {Theos, Giver of Spiritual Gifts}, one in this way {houtos: in this particular manner} and another in that way.
8 But I say to the unmarried {agamos: not currently married} and to the widows {cherais: bereft women}: It is good for them if they remain even as I.
9 But if they are not exercising self-control {enkrateuontai: disciplined restraint}, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn {purousthai: inward passion}.
10 But to the married I command—not I, but the Lord {Kyrios, Supreme Authority Over Marriage}—that a wife is not to separate from her husband {andros: male spouse, covenant partner}.
11 But if she does separate, let her remain unmarried {agamos: without spouse}, or else let her be reconciled {katallageto: restore relationship} to her husband. And the husband must not divorce his wife.
12 But to the rest I say—I, not the Lord {Kyrios, One who gave earlier teaching}—that if any brother has an unbelieving {apistos: without Christian faith} wife, and she consents to live with him, he must not send her away.
13 And if any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever {apistos: without Christian faith}, and he agrees to live with her, let her not leave the husband {andra: spouse in marital bond}.
14 The unbelieving {apistos: Without Christian Faith} husband is regarded as holy through his wife, and similarly the unbelieving wife is regarded as holy through her husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are consecrated {hagia: Set Apart for God}.
15 But if the unbeliever separates, let him separate. The brother or the sister is not enslaved {dedoulotai: legally bound} in such cases. But God {Theos, Caller To Peace} has called us in peace.
16 For what do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband {aner: married man}? Or what do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife {gyne: married woman}?
17 Only as the Lord {Kyrios, Master and Caller} has allotted to each, and as God {Theos, Sovereign Caller} has called each, let him walk; and this is what I direct in all the churches.
18 Was anyone called when already circumcised {peritetmemenos: ritual covenant mark}? He should not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone called while in uncircumcision {akrobystia: without covenant mark}? He should not become circumcised.
19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is keeping the commandments {entole: binding directives} of God {Theos, Supreme Lawgiver}.
20 Each one should stand firm {menetō: continue steadfastly} in the same calling {klēsei: assigned station} in which he was called.
21 Were you called as a slave {doulos: socially owned person}? Let it not be a concern {meletō: anxious worry} to you; but if you are also able to become free, rather make use of the opportunity.
22 If someone was called in the Lord {Kyrios, Liberating Master} as a slave {doulos: bound servant}, he is the Lord’s freedman; likewise, the one who was free when called is a slave of Christ {Christos, Claiming Lord}.
23 You were bought at great cost {times: costly ransom}; do not become slaves of men {anthropon: human authorities}.
24 Each person, brothers, in the situation in which he was called {eklethe: divinely summoned}, in this let him remain with God {Theos, Present Companion}.
25 Now concerning virgins, I do not have a command from the Lord {Kyrios, Supreme Master}, but I give my judgment as one who has received mercy {eleemenos: shown compassion} from the Lord to be faithful.
26 Therefore, I think this is good because of the present distress {ananken: pressing necessity}, that it is good for a person to remain {einai: to continue being} in this state.
27 If you have been bound to a wife, do not seek a release {lysis: dissolution of marriage}; if you have been released from a wife, do not seek a wife {gynaika: marriage partner}.
28 But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if the virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such people will have trouble {thlipsin: pressured hardship} in the flesh {sarki: bodily existence}, and I am sparing you.
29 But this I say, brothers, the time {kairos: appointed moment} has been shortened; from now on, let those who have wives {gynaikas: wives as covenant partners} be as though they do not have them.
30 And those who are lamenting {klaiontes: sorrowful lament} as though they were not lamenting, and those who are rejoicing as though they were not rejoicing, and those who are purchasing as though they did not possess {katechontes: tenacious holding}.
31 And those who use the world as though not misusing {katachraomai: overusing selfishly} it, for the form {schema: outward appearance} of this world is passing away.
32 But I want you to be free from anxiety {amerimnous: undivided, without anxiety}. The unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord {Kyrios, Focus of Devotion}, how he might please the Lord.
33 But the man who has married {gamesas: bound in marriage} is concerned about the things of the world {kosmos: present life system}—how he may please his wife.
34 And there is division: the unmarried woman and the virgin are concerned for the things of the Lord {Kyrios, Devotional Master}, so that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But the married woman is concerned for the things of the world, how she may please her husband {aner: male spouse}.
35 But I say this for your own benefit {symphoron: practical advantage}, not so that I might put a snare upon you, but for what is proper and devoted to the Lord {Kyrios, Focus of Devotion}, in an undistracted way.
36 But if anyone thinks he is behaving improperly toward his virgin {parthenon: betrothed woman}, if she is past the prime {huperakmos: beyond usual marriage age} and it must be so, let him do what he wills; he is not sinning—let them marry.
37 But whoever stands firm in his own heart {kardia: inner resolve}, not having necessity but having authority over his own will, and having decided this in his own heart to keep his own virgin {parthenon: betrothed woman} unmarried, he will do well.
38 So then, he who marries {gamizon: take in marriage} his own virgin {parthenos: betrothed woman} does well, and he who does not marry her will do better.
39 A wife remains bound to her husband {aner: married man} for as long as he lives, yet should he die, she is at liberty to be married to whomever she chooses, only in the Lord {Kyrios, Covenant Lordship}.
40 But she is more blessed if she remains in this way, according to my judgment {gnome: considered decision}; and I also think that I have the Spirit of God {pneuma theou, Apostolic Guide}.