New Testament in a Year

7 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.

² Nevertheless to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.

³ Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence, and likewise also the wife unto the husband.

⁴ The wife hath not power over her own body, but the husband; and likewise also the husband hath not power over his own body, but the wife.

⁵ Defraud ye not one the other, unless it be with consent for a time only, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not through your lack of selfrestraint.

⁶ But I speak this by permission, and not by commandment.

⁷ For I would that all men were even as I myself am. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one in this manner and another in that.

⁸ I say therefore to the unmarried and widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I.

⁹ But if they cannot contain themselves, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn.

¹⁰ And unto the married I command (yet not I, but the Lord): let not the wife depart from her husband.

¹¹ But if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband. And let not the husband put away his wife.

¹² But to the rest I speak (not the Lord): if any brother hath a wife who believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.

¹³ And the woman who hath a husband who believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.

¹⁴ For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband. Else your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.

¹⁵ But if the unbelieving spouse depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases, for God hath called us to peace.

¹⁶ For how knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? Or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?

¹⁷ But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all churches.

¹⁸ Is any man called, being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called, being uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised.

¹⁹ Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God.