Living Before the World

¹¹ Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts ^(A)which war against the soul, ^12 (B)having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, ^(C)they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Submission to Government^(D)

^13 (E)Therefore submit yourselves to every ^[a]ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, ¹⁴ or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. ¹⁵ For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— ^16 (F)as free, yet not ^(G)using liberty as a cloak for ^[b]vice, but as bondservants of God. ¹⁷ Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear ^(H)God. Honor the king.

Submission to Masters^(I)

^18 (J)Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. ¹⁹ For this is ^(K)commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. ²⁰ For ^(L)what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. ²¹ For ^(M)to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for ^[c]us, ^(N)leaving ^[d]us an example, that you should follow His steps:

^23 (P)who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but ^(Q)committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; ^24 (R)who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, ^(S)that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—^(T)by whose ^[e]stripes you were healed. ²⁵ For ^(U)you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned ^(V)to the Shepherd and ^[f]Overseer of your souls.

Submission to Husbands

3 Wives, likewise, be ^(W)submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, ^(X)they, without a word, may ^(Y)be won by the conduct of their wives,

^28 (A)There is neither Jew nor Greek, ^(B)there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all ^(C)one in Christ Jesus.

²² For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is ^(A)the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is ^(B)Christ’s slave.

The History of Creation^(A)

1 In the ^(B)beginning ^(C)God created the heavens and the earth.

³¹ Then ^(A)God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

The Garden of Eden

2 Thus the heavens and the earth, and ^(B)all the host of them, were finished. ^2 (C)And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

²⁷ So God created man ^(A)in His own image; in the image of God He created him; ^(B)male and female He created them. ²⁸ Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ^(C)“Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and ^(D)subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that ^[a]moves on the earth.”

¹⁵ Then the Lord God took ^[a]the man and put him in the garden of Eden to ^[b]tend and keep it.

¹⁷ Then to Adam He said, ^(A)“Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree ^(B)of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:

Bondservants and Masters

^5 (A)Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, ^(B)with fear and trembling, ^(C)in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; ^6 (D)not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, ⁷ with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, ^8 (E)knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.

⁹ And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that ^[a]your own ^(F)Master also is in heaven, and ^(G)there is no partiality with Him.