²⁶ Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is.^(A)

⁸ Now to the unmarried^[a] and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do.^(A)

Concerning Married Life

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

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

²⁸ Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.^{(A) 29} For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’^(B)

³⁵ I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided^(A) devotion to the Lord.

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.^(B) 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,^(C) but he who does not marry her does better.^[b]

²⁸ But if you do marry, you have not sinned;^(A) 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.

²³ How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people.

¹⁹ How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!^(A)

² “You must not marry^(A) and have sons or daughters in this place.” ³ For this is what the Lord says about the sons and daughters born in this land and about the women who are their mothers and the men who are their fathers:^{(B) 4} “They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried^(C) but will be like dung lying on the ground.^(D) They will perish by sword and famine,^(E) and their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.”^(F)