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.

^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.

²³ But ^(A)I call God to witness against me—it was ^(B)to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth.

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.

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.

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