1 Corinthians 7:12–16

⁶But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment.

¹⁷That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting.

²⁵Now 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.

¹¹Now therefore make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.

¹²Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do.

¹³But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.

¹⁴Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us.

¹⁵¶ Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this matter: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.

¹⁶And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names, were separated, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.

¹⁷And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month.

¹⁸¶ And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken strange wives: namely, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren; Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah.

¹⁹And they gave their hands that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass.

²And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.

³Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.

¹⁵And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.

¹⁶For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.

⁵For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

¹AWAKE, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.

¹⁵Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.

¹⁶For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

¹⁵Know 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.

¹⁶What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

¹⁷But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

¹NOW when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.

²For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.

²³Then called he them in, and lodged them. And on the morrow Peter went away with them, and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him.

¹⁹Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.

¹⁷But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

¹⁸And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

¹¹Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

³³For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

⁵⁰For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

¹⁸If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

¹⁴Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

¹⁵If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

¹LIKEWISE, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;

²While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.

²²To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

¹⁴If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.

¹⁶Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

¹⁹Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;

²⁰Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

¹⁰Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

³⁰The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.