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1 Corinthians 7

¹Now concerning the things that you wrote, "It is good for a man not to have sexual contact with a woman" ²because of fornication let each man have his own wife and let each woman have her own husband. ³Let the man give his wife what is due, and likewise also the wife to her husband. ⁴The wife does not have authority over her own body, but rather the husband, likewise the husband doesn't have authority over his own body, but his wife does. ⁵Don't defraud one another [of your sexual due], except by agreement for an appropriate time, so that you might commit yourselves to prayer and again be the same as before, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self control. ⁶But this I say as a permission, not as a command. ⁷Now I wish that everyone might be as I am also. But each one has a gift from God, one in one way, another in another.

⁸Next I say to the unmarried men and to the widows, it is good if they should remain as I am also. ⁹But if they cannot control themselves, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with desire. ¹⁰Further, to those who are married I command--notI, but the Lord--that a woman must not be separated from her husband, ¹¹but if she is separated, let her remain unmarried or become reconciled to her husband. Also a husband should not be divorced from his wife. ¹²And to the rest I say--I, not the Lord, if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever and she agrees to live with him, he should not divorce her. ¹³And if any woman has an unbelieving husband and he agrees to live with her, she should not divorce her husband. ¹⁴For the unbelieving husband is made holy by his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy in the brother (who is her husband), otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. ¹⁵But if the unbelieving partner wishes to divorce, let him divorce. The brother or the sister is not enslaved to such. All of this isbecause God has called you to live in peace. ¹⁶For how can you know, woman, if you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, if you will save your wife? ¹⁷But as the Lord has measured out to each one, as God has called each one, so let him live. And so I command in all the churches. ¹⁸If someone was called circumcised, let him not try to cover the marks. If anyone was called uncircumcised, let him not be circumcised. ¹⁹Circumcision is nothing uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commands of God. ²⁰Let each one remain in the calling to which he was called. ²¹Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it concern you. But if you can also become free, that's even better. ²²For one who is called in the Lord as a slave becomes the Lord's freedman, likewise the one who is called as a free person is a slave of the Lord. ²³You were bought with a price. Don't become slaves to human beings. ²⁴Brethren, let each one remain in the circumstances in which he was called now that he is in the Lord.

²⁵I don't have a command from the Lord about virgins, but I give you my opinion as one who is trustworthy by God's mercy. ²⁶I think that because of the current difficulty it is good for a person to remain as he or she is. ²⁷If you are bound to a woman, don't divorce her. If you are free from a woman, don't seek a wife. ²⁸But if you marry, you do not sin, and if a virgin marries, she does not sin. But those who do marry will have trouble in the flesh, and I would spare you this. ²⁹I I say this, brothers and sisters, the chosen time is quite short. From now on let those who have wives live as though they had none. ³⁰And let hose who mourn be as those who don't and those who rejoice be as those who do not, and those who buy as though they had nothing. ³¹Let those who deal with the world be like those who do not. Because the form of the world at present is passing away. ³²But a want you to be without worries. The one who is not married is concerned with the things of the Lord, how he might please the Lord. ³³But the one who marries is concerend with the things of the world, how he can please his wife, ³⁴and he is divided. And the woman who is not married and the virgin are conerned with the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But the one who marries is concernced with the things of the world, how she can please her husband. ³⁵I say htis for your benefit, not so as to place a burden on you, but so that you can have proper,constant, undistracted service to the Lord.

³⁶If anyone thinks he is not behaving properly toward his virgin (fiance), if he has strong passions and it needs to be this way, let him do what he wants. He is not sinning. Let them marry. ³⁷But whoever stands firm in his heart and has no need, and has his own will under control, and has made this judgment in his own heart, to have his own fiance, he does well. ³⁸So the one who marries his own virgin (fiance) does well, and the one who does not marry does better.

³⁹A wife is tied to her husband as long as she lives. But if her husband dies she is free to be married to whomever she wishes, but only in the Lord. ⁴⁰But she'll be happier if she remains as she is, in my opinion. And I think that I also have the Spirit of God.

Average revision: 3 (Draft # 1 by individual translator)