Chapter 7
1st Corinthians
7:1 Now concerning the things of which you* wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.
7:2 Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
7:3 Let the husband render to the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife to the husband.
7:4 The wife does not have power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband does not have power of his own body, but the wife.
7:5 Do not defraud one another, except with consent for a time, so that you* may give yourselves* to fasting and prayer; and come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you* for your* incontinence.
7:6 But I speak this by permission, and not as a commandment.
7:7 For I wish that all men were as I myself. But every man has his proper gift from Elohim, one after this manner, and another after that.
7:8 I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they remain even as I am.
7:9 But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
7:10 And to the married I command, yet not I, but YASHUWAH, Do not let the wife depart from her husband:
7:11 But if she shall depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and do not let the husband put away his wife.
7:12 But to the rest I speak, not YASHUWAH, if any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.
7:13 And the woman who has a husband who does not believe, and if he is pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.
7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: or else your* children would be unclean; but now they are holy.
7:15 But if the unbelieving departs, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases; but Elohim has called us to peace.
7:16 For how do you know, O wife, whether you shall save your husband? or how do you know, O man, whether you shall save your wife?
7:17 But as Elohim has distributed to every man, as YASHUWAH has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all assemblies.
7:18 Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not become circumcised.
7:19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of Elohim.
7:20 Let every man continue in the same calling in which he was called.
7:21 Are you called being a servant? do not care for it; but if you may be made free, use it rather.
7:22 For he who is called in YASHUWAH, being a servant, is YASHUWAH's free-man: likewise also he who is called, being free, is the Messiah's servant.
7:23 You* are bought with a price; do not be the servants of men.
7:24 Brothers, let every man in the state in which he is called, continue in it with Elohim.
7:25 Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment from YASHUWAH: yet I give my judgment as one who has obtained mercy from YASHUWAH to be faithful.
7:26 I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man to be so.
7:27 Are you bound to a wife? do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? do not seek a wife.
7:28 But if you marry, you have not sinned: and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Nevertheless, such will have trouble in the flesh; but I spare you*.
7:29 But I say this, brothers, The time is short, so that from now on, those who have wives, may be as though they had none;
7:30 And those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess;
7:31 And those who use this world, as not abusing it. For the fashion of this world passes away.
7:32 But I wish to have you* without anxious care. He who is unmarried, is anxious for the things that belong to YASHUWAH, how he may please YASHUWAH:
7:33 But he who is married, is anxious for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.
7:34 There is also a difference between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman is anxious for the things of YASHUWAH, so that she may be holy, both in body and in spirit: but she who is married, is anxious for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.
7:35 And this I speak for your* own profit; not that I may cast a snare upon you*, but for that which is comely, and that you* may attend upon YASHUWAH without distraction.
7:36 But if any man thinks that he behaves himself uncomely towards his virgin, if she has passed the flower of her age, and need so requires, let him do what he wishes, he does not sin: let them marry.
7:37 Nevertheless, he who stands steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but has power over his own will, and has so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin, does well.
7:38 So then he who gives her in marriage does well; but he who does not give her in marriage does better.
7:39 The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband is dead, she is at freedom to be married to whom she wishes; only in YASHUWAH.
7:40 But she is happier if she so remains, after my judgment; and I think also that I have the Spirit of Elohim.