Advice to Virgins and Widows. 25Now in regard to virgins I have no commandment from the Lord,^* but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. 26So this is what I think best because of the present distress: that it is a good thing for a person to remain as he is.ⁱ 27Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek a separation. Are you free of a wife? Then do not look for a wife. 28If you marry, however, you do not sin, nor does an unmarried woman sin if she marries; but such people will experience affliction in their earthly life, and I would like to spare you that.

29^* I tell you, brothers, the time is running out. From now on, let those having wives act as not having them,^j 30those weeping as not weeping, those rejoicing as not rejoicing, those buying as not owning, 31those using the world as not using it fully. For the world in its present form is passing away.

32I should like you to be free of anxieties. An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. 33But a married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may please his wife,^k 34and he is divided. An unmarried woman or a virgin is anxious about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy in both body and spirit. A married woman, on the other hand, is anxious about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.^l 35I am telling you this for your own benefit, not to impose a restraint upon you, but for the sake of propriety and adherence to the Lord without distraction.^m