²⁵ Now concerning virgins, I have ^(A)no command of the Lord, but I am offering direction as one who ^[a](B)by the mercy of the Lord is trustworthy. ²⁶ I think, then, that this is good in view of the ^[b]present ^(C)distress, that ^(D)it is good for a man ^[c]to remain as he is. ²⁷ Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife. ²⁸ But if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such people as yourselves will have ^[d]trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you. ²⁹ But this I say, brothers, ^(E)the time has been shortened, so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none; ³⁰ and those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess; ³¹ and those who use the world, as though they did not ^(F)make full use of it; for ^(G)the present form of this world is passing away.