the Week of Christ the King / Proper 29 / Ordinary 34
Click here to learn more!
Read the Bible
King James Version
1 Corinthians 7:9
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- BridgewayEncyclopedias:
- InternationalParallel Translations
But if you cannot control your body, then you should marry. It is better to marry than to burn with sexual desire.
But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.
But and yf they canot abstayne let them mary. For it is better to mary then to burne.
But if they don't have self-control, let them marry. For it's better to marry than to burn.
However, if they cannot control themselves, they should get married, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.with passion">[fn]1 Timothy 5:14;">[xr]
But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry. It is better to marry than to burn with sexual desire.
But if they don't have self-control, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
But if they don't have self-control, let them marry. For it's better to marry than to burn.
But if they have not power over themselves, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn.
If, however, they cannot maintain self-control, by all means let them marry; for marriage is better than the fever of passion.
That if thei conteynen not hem silf, be thei weddid; for it is betere to be weddid, than to be brent.
But if they have not continency, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
But if they cannot control themselves, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
But if you don't have enough self-control, then go ahead and get married. After all, it is better to marry than to burn with desire.
But if they do not have [sufficient] self-control, they should marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
But if they have not continency, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.
But if they have not self-control let them get married; for married life is better than the burning of desire.
but if they can't exercise self-control, they should get married; because it is better to get married than to keep burning with sexual desire.
But if they have not control over themselves, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn.
Yet, if they persevere not, they should marry; for it is better to take a wife than to burn with concupiscence.
9 But if they cannot endure [fn] , let them marry: for it is more profitable to take a wife, than to burn with concupiscence.
But if they cannot conteine, let them marry: for it is better to marrie then to burne.
But if they can't control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. It's better to marry than to burn with lust.
But if you are not able to keep from doing that which you know is wrong, get married. It is better to get married than to have such strong sex desires.
But if they are not practicing self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.
But if they cannot abstaine, let them marrie: for it is better to marrie then to burne.
But if they cannot endure it, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
But, if they have not self-control, let them marry, for, better, is it, to marry than to burn.
But if they do not contain themselves, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to be burnt.
But if they can not abstayne, let them marrie: For it is better to marrie then to burne.
But if you cannot restrain your desires, go ahead and marry—it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
But if they do not have self-control, they should marry, since it is better to marry than to burn with desire.
But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with sexual desire.
But if they do not have self control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to be inflamed.
and if they have not continence -- let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn;
But yf they cannot absteyne, let them mary. For it is better to mary, then to burne.
but if they have not the gift, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to be in pain.
But if they do not have self-control, let them get married. For it is better to marry than to burn with sexual desire.
but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
But if you run too hot in the loins, then go ahead and get married. It's better to be married than burn with passion that leads to sin.
But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
But if they do not have self-control, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
let: 1 Corinthians 7:2, 1 Corinthians 7:28, 1 Corinthians 7:36, 1 Corinthians 7:39, 1 Timothy 5:11, 1 Timothy 5:14
Reciprocal: Matthew 19:11 - General 2 Timothy 3:3 - incontinent
Cross-References
And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord .
Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord .
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
But if they cannot contain, c. Or "if they do not contain", as the words may be rendered, and as almost all versions do render them if they have not the gift of continency; if they are not willing, and do not think fit to contain, for none are to be compelled; if either therefore they want a will or power to contain, let them marry; it is not only lawful for them to marry, but it is right and best for them; hence it appears that second marriages are lawful, which were condemned by some of the ancients: for it is better to marry than to burn; or be burnt; not with material fire, as Judah ordered Tamar to be brought forth and burnt with, for whoredom; nor with hell fire, the just demerit of uncleanness; but with the fire of lust itself; and so the Syriac version reads it, "it is better to marry than to be burnt" ברגתא, "with lust"; when persons not only find in them some lustful motions and desires, and a glowing heat of concupiscence; but are as it were all on fire with the lusts of the flesh, and in great danger of being drawn into the commission of fornication, adultery, or other pollutions, and even unnatural lusts; it is much better to enter into a marriage state, though it may have its cares, inconveniences, and difficulties, than to be under temptations and inclinations to such defilements: so the Jews often express the lust of concupiscence by fire; they tell g us a
"story of R. Amram, that he redeemed all the captives, men and women; and the women and the virgins dwelt in a chamber in his house alone; one time, Satan kindled in him, אש התאוה, "the fire of lust", and he set a ladder to go up to them, and when he came upon the steps of the ladder, he began to cry with a loud voice, נורא בי עמרם נורא בי עמרם, "fire in the house of Amram, fire in the house of Amram": and the men came to quench the fire, and found nothing burning; for it was only his intention to cause to cease from him the fire of lust; and his thought ceased and his mind grew cool; and they asked him, why he mocked them? he replied, for this is a greater "fire" than all the fires in the world, for it is the fire of hell:''
This story is also told in the Talmud h, with some little variation: so we read of one that is אתלהיט ביצר רע, "inflamed" i, or all on fire "with the corruption of nature", who does not direct his heart to God: and such a man that finds his corruptions prevail over him, he ought to marry, they say k, as a proper remedy against it:
"he whose mind is intent upon the law continually, and learns it as Ben Azzai, and cleaves to it all his days, and does not marry a wife, there is no iniquity in his hands, and that because his corruption does not prevail over him; but if his corruption prevails over him,
חייב לישא אשה, "he ought to marry a wife":''
and that for the very reason the apostle here gives. The Ethiopic version reads, "it is better to marry than to commit fornication"; that and adultery both are expressed by fire and burning, with the Jews, as they prove from Hosea 7:4 l
g Caphtor, fol. 62. 1. h T. Bab. Kiddushin, fol. 81. 1. i Zohar in Lev. fol. 21. 1. k Maimon. Hilch. Ishot, c. 15. sect. 3. l Vet. Nizzachon, p. 43, 44.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
But if they cannot contain - If they have not the gift of continence; if they cannot be secure against temptation; if they have not strength of virtue enough to preserve them from the danger of sin, and of bringing reproach and scandal on the church.
It is better - It is to be preferred.
Than to burn - The passion here referred to is often compared to a fire; see Virgil, Aeneas 4:68. It is better to marry, even with all the inconveniences attending the marriage life in a time of distress and persecution in the church 1 Corinthians 7:26, than to be the prey of raging, consuming, and exciting passions.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse 1 Corinthians 7:9. But if they cannot contain — If they find it inconvenient and uncomfortable to continue as widowers and widows, let them remarry.
It is better to marry than to burn. — Bishop Pearce translates the original thus: For it is better to marry than to be made uneasy. πυρουσθαι, says he, "signifies primarily to burn; but in a metaphorical sense, to be troubled, vexed, or made uneasy. So in 2 Corinthians 11:29: Who is offended and I burn not, και ουκ εγω πυρουμαι, and I am not troubled. So in Terence, Uro hominem, is I vex him." It would be well to soften the sense of this word in reference to the subject of which the apostle speaks. He cannot mean burning with lust, no more than Virgil means so when he says, AEn. iv. ver. 68: Uritur infelix Dido, the unfortunate Dido is tormented; and in Eccl. ii. 68: Me tamen urit amor, love torments me. All this may be said with the strictest truth in such cases where the impure fire referred to above has no existence.
A curious story, which certainly casts light on the phraseology of this place, is related by Dr. Lightfoot, from the tract Kiddushin, fol. 81. "Some captive women were brought to Nehardea, and disposed in the house and the upper room of Rabbi Amram. They took away the ladder [that the women might not get down, but stay there till they were ransomed.] As one of these captives passed by the window, the light of her great beauty shined into the house. Amram [captivated] set up the ladder; and when he was got to the middle of the steps [checked by his conscience] he stopped short, and with a loud voice cried out FIRE! FIRE! in the house of Amram! [This he did that, the neighbours flocking in, he might be obliged to desist from the evil affection which now prevailed in him.] The rabbins ran to him, and [seeing no fire] they said, Thou hast disgraced us. To which he replied: It is better that ye be disgraced in the house of Amram in this world, then that ye be disgraced by me in the world to come. He then adjured that evil affection to go out of him, and it went out as a pillar of FIRE. Amram said: Thou art FIRE, and I am FLESH; yet for all that I have prevailed against thee." From this story much instruction may be derived.
