5. So, do not fail in your obligations to one another, except perhaps by consent, for a limited time, so that you may empty yourselves for prayer. And then, return together again, lest Satan tempt you by means of your abstinence.
6. But I am saying this, neither as an indulgence, nor as a commandment.
7. For I would prefer it if you were all like myself. But each person has his proper gift from God: one in this way, yet another in that way.
8. But I say to the unmarried and to widows: It is good for them, if they would remain as they are, just as I also am.
9. But if they cannot restrain themselves, they should marry. For it is better to marry, than to be burned.
10. But to those who have been joined in matrimony, it is not I who commands you, but the Lord: a wife is not to separate from her husband.
11. But if she has separated from him, she must remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband should not divorce his wife.
12. Concerning the rest, I am speaking, not the Lord. If any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her.
13. And if any woman has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce her husband.
14. For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through the believing wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through the believing husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, whereas instead they are holy.
15. But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart. For a brother or sister cannot be made subject to servitude in this way. For God has called us to peace.
16. And how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?