New Testament in a Year
20 (A)Let every man abide in the same vocation wherein he was called.
21 Art thou called being a servant? [a]care not for it: but if yet thou mayest be free, use it rather.
22 For he that is called in the [b]Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called being free, is Christ’s servant.
23 (B)[c]Ye are bought with a price: be not the servants of men.
24 [d]Brethren, let every man, wherein he was called, therein abide with [e]God.
25 [f]Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord: but I give mine [g]advise, as [h]one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful.
26 I suppose then [i]this to be good for the [j]present necessity: I mean that it is good for a man so to be.
27 Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed: art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.
28 But if thou takest a wife, thou sinnest not: and if a virgin marry, she sinneth not: nevertheless, such shall have trouble in the [k]flesh: but I [l]spare you.
29 And this I say, brethren, because the time is [m]short, hereafter that both they which have wives, be as though they had none:
30 And they that [n]weep, as though they wept not: and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not: and they that buy, as though they possessed not:
31 And they that use this [o]world, as though they used it not: for the [p]fashion of this world goeth away.
32 And I would have you without care. The unmarried careth for things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord.
33 But he that is married, [q]careth for the things of the world, how he may please his wife.
34 There is difference also between a virgin and a wife: the unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy, both in body and in [r]spirit: but she that is married, careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.
35 And this I speak for your own [s]commodity, not to tangle you in a snare, but that ye follow that which is honest, and that ye may cleave fast unto the Lord without separation.
36 [t]But if any man think that it is uncomely for his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he [u]sinneth not: let them be married.
37 Nevertheless, he that standeth firm in his [v]heart, that he hath no [w]need, but hath power over his own will, and hath so decreed in his heart, that he will keep his virgin, he doeth well.
38 So then he that giveth her to marriage, doeth well, but he that giveth her not to marriage, doeth [x]better.
39 [y]The wife is bound by the [z]law, as long as her husband (C)liveth: but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to marry with whom she will, only in the [aa]Lord.
40 But she is more blessed, if she so abide in my judgment: (D)and I think that I have also the Spirit of God.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.