Wives and Husbands

In the same way, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some are disobedient to the word, they may be won over without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they[a] see your respectful, pure conduct. Let your[b] adornment not be the external kind, braiding hair and putting on gold jewelry or putting on fine clothing, but the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is highly valuable in the sight of God. For in the same way formerly the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves by[c] being subject to their own husbands, like Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose children you have become when you[d] do good and are not frightened with respect to any terror.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Peter 3:2 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“see”) which is understood as temporal
  2. 1 Peter 3:3 Literally “of whom,” referring to the wives
  3. 1 Peter 3:5 Here “by” is supplied as a component of the participle (“being subject”) which is understood as means
  4. 1 Peter 3:6 Here “when” is supplied as a component of the participle (“do good”) which is understood as temporal

Wives, in the same way submit yourselves(A) to your own husbands(B) so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over(C) without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives. Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes.(D) Rather, it should be that of your inner self,(E) the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.(F) For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God(G) used to adorn themselves.(H) They submitted themselves to their own husbands, like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord.(I) You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.

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