1 Corinthians 7:1-7

EasyEnglish Bible

Questions about marriage

7 You wrote to ask me about certain things. You say, ‘It is a good thing when a man does not marry.’ ² That may be true, but then people may have sex in wrong ways. So every man should have his own wife and every woman should have her own husband. ³ Then they may have sex with each other in the right way. A husband should agree to have sex with his wife. And the wife should do the same thing for her husband. ⁴ The wife does not rule over her own body to decide when to have sex. She belongs to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not rule over his own body. He belongs to his wife.

⁵ Do not refuse to have sex with each other, unless both of you agree to stop for a short time. Then you can use more time to pray. But you should come together again soon, as husband and wife. If not, Satan may try to make you do something wrong. You may want too strongly to have sex with someone else. ⁶ I am saying these things to help you. I am not telling you what you must do. ⁷ It would be good if all of you could live in the way that I do. But each person has his own gift from God. God helps one person to live in a certain way. God helps another person with a different gift.