Thou shalt not commit
adultery.
I made a covenant
with mine eyes;
why then
should
I think
upon a maid?
To deliver thee
from the strange woman,
even from the stranger which
flattereth with her words;
Let thy fountains
be dispersed abroad,
and rivers
of waters
in the streets.
Let them
be only
thine own,
and not strangers'
with thee.
Let thy fountain
be blessed:
and rejoice
with the wife
of thy youth.
Let her
be
as the loving hind
and pleasant roe;
let her breasts
satisfy thee
at all times;
and be
thou ravished always
with her love.
And
why wilt thou,
my son,
be ravished
with a strange woman,
and embrace
the bosom of a stranger?
To keep thee
from the evil woman,
from the flattery
of the tongue
of a strange woman.
Lust not
after her beauty
in thine heart;
neither let her take thee
with her eyelids.
A fool
despiseth his father's instruction:
but he
that
regardeth
reproof is prudent.
Give not thy strength
unto women,
nor thy ways
to that
which destroyeth kings.
But
I say unto you,
That whosoever looketh
on a woman
to lust after her
hath committed adultery
with her
already in his heart.
But
that we
write unto them,
that they
abstain
from pollutions
of idols,
and
from fornication,
and
from things strangled,
and
from blood.
Meats
for the belly,
and the belly
for meats:
but God
shall destroy
both it and them.
Now the body
is not
for fornication,
but for the Lord;
and the Lord
for the body.
Know
ye not
that your bodies
are the members
of Christ?
shall I
then take
the members
of Christ,
and make them
the members
of an harlot?
God forbid.
What?
know
ye not
that he which
is joined
to an harlot
is one body?
for two,
saith he,
shall be one flesh.
But he
that is joined
unto the Lord
is one spirit.
Flee fornication.
Every sin
that a man
doeth
is without the body;
but he
that
committeth
fornication sinneth against his own body.
What?
know
ye not
that your body
is the temple
of the Holy Ghost
which is in you,
which ye
have of God,
and
ye are not
your own?
Now concerning the things
whereof
ye wrote unto me:
It is good
for a man not
to touch a woman.
Nevertheless,
to avoid fornication,
let every man
have his own wife,
and let every woman
have her own husband.
For I
would that all men
were
even as I myself.
But every man
hath his proper gift
of God,
one after this manner,
and another
after that.
I say therefore
to the unmarried
and widows,
It is good
for them
if they
abide even as I.
But
if they
cannot contain,
let them marry:
for it
is better
to marry than to burn.
Now concerning virgins
I have no commandment
of the Lord:
yet I
give
my judgment,
as one
that hath obtained mercy
of the Lord
to be faithful.
I suppose therefore
that this
is good
for the present distress,
I say,
that it
is good
for a man so to be.
But
if any man
think
that he
behaveth himself
uncomely toward his virgin,
if she
pass the flower
of her age,
and need so require,
let him
do
what he will,
he sinneth not:
let them marry.
Nevertheless
he that
standeth stedfast
in his heart,
having no necessity,
but hath
power
over his own will,
and hath so
decreed
in his heart
that he
will keep
his virgin,
doeth well.
But fornication,
and all uncleanness,
or covetousness,
let it
not be once named
among you,
as becometh saints;
Mortify therefore your members
which are upon the earth;
fornication,
uncleanness,
inordinate affection,
evil concupiscence,
and covetousness,
which is idolatry:
For this
is the will
of God,
even your sanctification,
that ye
should abstain
from fornication:
For God
hath not called us
unto uncleanness,
but unto holiness.
These are
they which
were not defiled
with women;
for they
are virgins.
These are
they
which follow
the Lamb
whithersoever
he goeth.
These were redeemed from
among men,
being the firstfruits
unto God
and to the Lamb.