³² I want you to be ^(A)free from anxieties. ^(B)The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. ³³ But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, ³⁴ and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. ³⁵ I say this for your own benefit, ^(C)not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.

^4 (A)Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge ^(B)the sexually immoral and adulterous.

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; ^(A)I will make him a helper fit for^[a] him.” ^19 (B)Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed^[b] every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and ^(C)brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam^[c] there was not found a helper fit for him. ²¹ So the Lord God caused a ^(D)deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²² And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made^[d] into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³ Then the man said,

^24 (G)Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

²⁶ Then God said, ^(A)“Let us make man^[a] in our image, ^(B)after our likeness. And ^(C)let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

²⁸ And God blessed them. And God said to them, ^(E)“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

⁴ He answered, ^(A)“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, ⁵ and said, ^(B)‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and ^(C)the two shall become one flesh’? ⁶ So they are no longer two but one flesh. ^(D)What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” ⁷ They said to him, ^(E)“Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” ⁸ He said to them, “Because of your ^(F)hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. ^9 (G)And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”^[a]

¹⁰ The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” ¹¹ But he said to them, ^(H)“Not everyone can receive this saying, but only ^(I)those to ^(J)whom it is given. ¹² For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs ^(K)for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

^21 (A)submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives and Husbands

^22 (B)Wives, ^(C)submit to your own husbands, ^(D)as to the Lord. ²³ For ^(E)the husband is the head of the wife even as ^(F)Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is ^(G)himself its Savior. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit ^(H)in everything to their husbands.

^25 (I)Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and ^(J)gave himself up for her, ²⁶ that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by ^(K)the washing of water ^(L)with the word, ²⁷ so ^(M)that he might present the church to himself in splendor, ^(N)without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.^{[a] 28} In the same way ^(O)husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰ because ^(P)we are members of his body. ^31 (Q)“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and ^(R)the two shall become one flesh.” ³² This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. ³³ However, ^(S)let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she ^(T)respects her husband.