1 Corinthians 7:9-31

9But if you want to have sex too strongly, then you should marry. It is better to do that than to want to have sex all the time.

10I will say this to people who have married. (This is not my rule. It is a rule that comes from the Lord himself.) A wife must not leave her husband.

11But if she does leave him, she must not marry another man. Or she should go back to live with her husband. In the same way, a husband must not send his wife away.

12To all you other people, I say this. (This is what I think. The Lord has not spoken about it.) A Christian man may have a wife who does not believe in Christ. If she agrees to continue living with him, then he should not send her away.

13Also, a Christian woman may have a husband who does not believe in Christ. If he agrees to continue living with her, then she should not leave him.

14God accepts a husband who does not believe in Christ because of his Christian wife. And God accepts a wife who does not believe in Christ because of her Christian husband. If that was not true, the children would not belong to God. But God does accept them, because to him they are now clean.

15But the husband or wife who does not believe in Christ may want to leave. If they want to become separate, let them do that. If that happens, the Christian man or woman is now free. God wants you to live in peace.

16If you are a Christian wife, you might save your husband. If you are a Christian husband, you might save your wife. But you can not be sure of what will happen.

17But each of you should continue to live in the way that God has chosen for you. Remain as you were at the time when God called you to come to him. I teach that rule to people in all the churches.

18Some of you are Jews, so people circumcised you. That happened before you believed in Christ. So do not try to change it. Some of you are not Jews. Nobody circumcised you. So continue like that. Do not ask anyone to circumcise you.

19It is not important whether someone has circumcised you or not. The important thing is this: Obey what God says.

20Each of you should continue as you were when God called you to come to him.

21You may have been a slave when God called you. That does not matter. But if you have the chance to become a free person, accept it.

22The Lord may call a slave to come to him. Then, that slave has become free, because he belongs to the Lord. In the same way, when God calls a free person to belong to Christ, he becomes Christ's slave.

23God bought you for himself. He paid the price for you. So do not let anyone else make you their slave.

24My Christian friends, each of you should continue as you were when God first called you to come to him. Remember that you serve God.

25You asked me a question about people who have not yet married. The Lord has not told me any special rule about this. But I will tell you what I myself think about it. The Lord has been very kind to me. You know that you can believe what I say.

26This is what I think: There are many troubles in the world today. So it is better for everybody to continue as they are.

27If you have a wife, do not try to send her away. If you do not have a wife, do not try to marry.

28But if you do marry, that is not wrong. And if a young woman marries, that is not wrong. But people who marry will have many troubles during their life together. I want to save you from problems like that.

29My Christian friends, this is what I mean: The time that remains is very short. So men who have wives should live as if they had no wife.

30People who are sad should live as if they were not sad. People who are happy should live as if they had nothing to laugh about. People who buy things should live as if those things do not belong to them.

31If you enjoy the things of this world, do not live as if those things are important. This world, as it is now, will soon finish.