Ephesians 5:11-31

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹¹ Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness; rather, expose them.^{(A) 12} For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly, ¹³ but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, ¹⁴ for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

¹⁵ Be careful, then, how you live,^[a] not as unwise people but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of the time, because the days are evil.^{(C) 17} So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.^{(D) 18} Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,^{(E) 19} as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to one another, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts,^{(F) 20} giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,^{(G) 21} being subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.

The Christian Household

²² Wives, be subject^[b] to your husbands as to the Lord,^{(H) 23} for the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.^{(I) 24} Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶ in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, ²⁷ so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind, so that she may be holy and without blemish.^{(J) 28} In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hates his own flesh, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, ³⁰ because we are members of his body.^{[c](K) 31} “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”^(L)