²⁶ I think that in view of the present^[a] distress ^(A)it is good for a person to remain as he is.

⁸ To the unmarried and the widows I say that ^(A)it is good for them to remain single, ^(B)as I am.

Principles for Marriage

7 Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: ^(A)“It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.”

¹⁷ For it is time for judgment ^(A)to begin at the household of God; and ^(B)if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who ^(C)do not obey the gospel of God?

³⁵ I say this for your own benefit, ^(A)not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.

³⁶ If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed,^[a] if his^[b] passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry—it is no sin. ³⁷ But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well. ³⁸ So then he who marries his betrothed ^(B)does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.

²⁸ But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman^[a] marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that.

²⁸ But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. ²⁹ For behold, ^(A)the days are coming when they will say, ^(B)‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’

^23 (A)Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and ^(B)wrath against this people.

¹⁹ And ^(A)alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!

² “You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. ³ For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who fathered them in this land: ^4 (A)They shall die of deadly diseases. ^(B)They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried. ^(C)They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. ^(D)They shall perish by the sword and by famine, ^(E)and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.