Wives and Husbands

1In the same way, wives, submit to your own husbands, so that, ²²even if some are disobedient to the word, they ²³will be won without a word by the way you live

2when they observe your pure and reverent conduct.

3Do not adorn yourselves outwardly with elaborately braided hair, gold jewelry, or fancy clothes.

4Rather, let your adornment be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable quality of a ²⁴gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God's sight.

5For this is how the holy women who hoped in God adorned themselves in the past, by submitting to their own husbands,

6just as Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You have become her children if you do good and do not give way to fear.

7Husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker partner, since they are heirs with you of the ²⁵grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

Suffering for Righteousness' Sake

8Finally, you must all be of one mind, sympathetic, loving as brothers, tenderhearted, and ²⁶kind.

9Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but, on the contrary, bless, ²⁷knowing that to this you were called, so that you may inherit a blessing.

10For,
“Whoever wants to love life
and see good days
must keep his tongue from evil,
and his lips from speaking deceit;

11he must turn aside from evil and do good;
he must seek peace and pursue it.

12For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous,
and his ears are open to their prayers.
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

13Now who will harm you if you become ²⁸imitators of what is good?

14But even if you do suffer because of righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear people's threats or be troubled,

15but sanctify ²⁹the Lord God in your hearts. Always be ready to make a defense to anyone who asks you for an explanation of the hope you have within you, ³⁰with gentleness and respect,

16keeping a clear conscience, so that, when ³¹those who revile your good conduct in Christ speak against you as evildoers, they may be put to shame.

17For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is God's will, than to suffer for doing evil.

18For Christ also ³²suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, so that he might bring ³³us to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,

19in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison,

20who disobeyed long ago when God ³⁴waited patiently in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight people, were saved through water.

21Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves ³⁵us—not by removing dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

22who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.