To the Church of God in Corinth, men and women consecrated in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ-- their Lord as well as ours.

I now deal with the subjects mentioned in your letter. It is well for a man to abstain altogether from marriage.

But I tell the unmarried, and women who are widows, that it is well for them to remain as I am.

I think then that, taking into consideration the distress which is now upon us, it is well for a man to remain as he is.

But if a father stands firm in his resolve, being free from all external constraint and having a legal right to act as he pleases, and in his own mind has come to the decision to keep his daughter unmarried, he will do well.

So that he who gives his daughter in marriage does well, and yet he who does not give her in marriage will do better.

But with most of them God was not well pleased; for they were laid low in the Desert.