Concerning the Unmarried

²⁵ Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord,^(A) but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy^(B) is trustworthy. ²⁶ Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is.^{(C) 27} Are you pledged to a woman? Do not seek to be released. Are you free from such a commitment? Do not look for a wife.^{(D) 28} But if you do marry, you have not sinned;^(E) and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.

³⁶ If anyone is worried that he might not be acting honorably toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if his passions are too strong^[a] and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning.^(A) They should get married. ³⁷ But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin—this man also does the right thing. ³⁸ So then, he who marries the virgin does right,^(B) but he who does not marry her does better.^[b]