About the Unmarried and Widows

²⁵ About virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I do give an opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy^(A) is trustworthy.^{(B) 26} Therefore I consider this to be good because of the present distress: It is fine for a man to remain as he is. ²⁷ Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife. ²⁸ However, if you do get married,^(C) you have not sinned, and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But such people will have trouble in this life,^[a] and I am trying to spare you. ²⁹ And I say this, brothers: The time is limited,^(D) so from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none, ³⁰ those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice^(E) as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess, ³¹ and those who use the world as though they did not make full use of it. For this world in its current form is passing away.^(F)