Wives and Husbands

3 In a similar way, you wives must submit yourselves to your husbands so that, even if some of them refuse to obey the word, they may be won over without a word through your conduct as wives ² when they see your pure and reverent lives.

³ Your beauty should not be an external one, consisting of braided hair or the wearing of gold ornaments and dresses. ⁴ Instead, it should be the inner disposition of the heart, consisting in the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which God values greatly.^{[a] 5} After all, this is how holy women who set their hope on God used to make themselves beautiful in the past. They submitted themselves to their husbands, ⁶ just as Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him lord. You have become her daughters by doing good and by not letting anything terrify you.

⁷ In a similar way, you husbands must live with your wives in an understanding manner, as with a most delicate partner.^[b] Honor them as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing may interfere with your prayers.

When You are Wronged

⁸ Finally, all of you must live in harmony, be sympathetic, love as brothers, and be compassionate and humble. ⁹ Do not pay others back evil for evil or insult for insult. Instead, keep blessing them, because you were called to inherit a blessing.

¹³ Who will harm you if you are devoted to doing what is good? ¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. “Never be afraid of their threats, and never get upset. ¹⁵ Instead, exalt^[i] the Messiah”^[j] as Lord in your lives.^[k] Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you to explain the hope you have. ¹⁶ But do this^[l] gently and respectfully, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak evil of your good conduct in the Messiah^[m] will be ashamed of slandering you. ¹⁷ After all, if it is the will of God, it is better to suffer for doing right than for doing wrong.

¹⁹ in which he went and made a proclamation to those imprisoned spirits ²⁰ who disobeyed long ago in the days of Noah, when God waited patiently while the ark was being built. In it a few, that is, eight persons, were saved by water. ²¹ Baptism, which is symbolized by that water, now saves you also, not by removing dirt from the body, but by asking God for a clear^[q] conscience based on the resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah,^{[r] 22} who has gone to heaven and is at the right hand of God, where angels, authorities, and powers have been made subject to him.