27. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek a separation. Are you free of a wife? Then do not look for a wife.
28. If you marry, however, you do not sin, nor does an unmarried woman sin if she marries; but such people will experience affliction in their earthly life, and I would like to spare you that.
29. I tell you, brothers, the time is running out. From now on, let those having wives act as not having them,
30. those weeping as not weeping, those rejoicing as not rejoicing, those buying as not owning,
31. those using the world as not using it fully. For the world in its present form is passing away.
32. I should like you to be free of anxieties. An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord.
33. But a married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may please his wife,
34. and he is divided. An unmarried woman or a virgin is anxious about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy in both body and spirit. A married woman, on the other hand, is anxious about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.
35. I am telling you this for your own benefit, not to impose a restraint upon you, but for the sake of propriety and adherence to the Lord without distraction.
36. If anyone thinks he is behaving improperly toward his virgin, and if a critical moment has come and so it has to be, let him do as he wishes. He is committing no sin; let them get married.
37. The one who stands firm in his resolve, however, who is not under compulsion but has power over his own will, and has made up his mind to keep his virgin, will be doing well.
38. So then, the one who marries his virgin does well; the one who does not marry her will do better.