This is about wives and husbands

1Now I’m talking to you women that are married. You have to think about what your husbands want and agree with them. Some husbands don’t do what God’s word says, but if they see you living right, they will want to come to God. You don’t have to say a word, you just have to live right.

2They will see that you are really good and that you listen properly to God.

3You women will be really beautiful if you live in a quiet way, and don’t try to be important. If you are beautiful inside like that, you will stay beautiful for ever, even after you get old. But if you just do things like colour your hair and do it up, or if you have gold rings and necklaces, or if you have pretty clothes, you might think you are beautiful, but those things don’t last for ever. So be quiet inside yourselves, and don’t try to be important. God really wants you to be beautiful that way.

5A long time ago, the women that really trusted God were like that. They thought about what their husbands wanted and agreed with them.

6Remember Sarah, a woman that lived a long time ago. She listened to her husband, Abraham, and she did what he wanted. She called him, “My good boss.” So always do what is right, and don’t be frightened of anyone. Then you will be like grand-daughters of Sarah.

7And you men that are married, you have to do your part too. You have to respect your wives and take good care of them. Their bodies aren’t strong like yours. But all of you are God’s people, so God gave them life, just the same as he gave you life. So remember that, and be good to them and respect them. Then God will hear your prayers.

If people make trouble for you

8Now all of you listen to this too. Remember that you are all in the same family, so you have to think the same way about what is right. And you have to care for each other properly. Don’t think you are great. Try to understand how other people are feeling and be good to them.

9If somebody rubbishes you, don’t rubbish them back. If somebody does wrong to you, don’t do payback to them. Instead of that, you have to ask God to be good to them. God picked you to be in his family and to live like that. And if you are good to people like that, God will be good to you too.

10God says this in his book, “If you want to live well and be happy,
don’t say bad things about other people,
and don’t lie to them.

11Turn away from doing bad things,
and do good things.
Don’t fight with people or make trouble.
Try very hard to live happily with other people.

12God looks after people that live the right way,
and he listens carefully to what they ask him.
But God punishes people that do bad things.”

13So if you want to do good, nobody will want to punish you.

14But sometimes, even if you do what’s right, some people will make trouble for you. If that happens, don’t be frightened of them and don’t worry about anything they might do to you, because God will be very good to you.

15Always remember that Jesus Christ is the really important one. He is your good leader, so listen to him. People might say to you, “Tell us, why are you sure that God will do good things for you?” So you always have to be ready to help them understand why you are sure.

16Tell them clearly, and respect them as you talk to them. Make sure you always live the right way, so you don’t feel shame. Some people rubbish Christians, but if they see you doing the right things, they will feel shame about themselves.

17If you do something wrong, and then people give you trouble, that’s fair enough. But it is much better to do good things, even if people give you trouble for doing those good things.

18All of us have done wrong things, so we should die, but Jesus Christ died instead of us. He took the payback for the bad things we did. He never did anything wrong himself, but he died instead of us, so that we can go to God and become his family. Jesus died just once, but God remembers it for ever. People killed Jesus, but God’s spirit made him alive again.

19Then Jesus went and talked to the spirits that are locked up like prisoners.

20A long time ago, they didn’t listen to God, and they didn’t do the things God told them to do. That was at the time when Noah lived. God waited at that time, he didn’t punish anyone yet. God waited, and Noah built that big boat. Only 8 people got into that boat. Then God sent a very big rain. Water covered everything, and everyone drowned. God saved only those 8 people that were in the boat.

21That water is a picture of the baptism ceremony. Like the time our Christian leaders put us under the water to baptise us. They didn’t do that to wash the dirt off the outside of us. No. It’s like that water washed the shame from inside us. When we asked those leaders to baptise us, we asked God to make us clean on the inside, so that we will not feel shame any more. So God saves us and gives us new life. Yes, we can have new life because, after Jesus died, he came back to life again.

22Jesus is now in heaven with God in the most important place, at God’s right-hand side. All the angels, and all the bad spirits, and all the bosses everywhere, they haven’t got as much power as Jesus. No. He is the strongest one anywhere. He has more power than all of them.