Wives and Husbands

22 Wives,(A) submit[a](B) to your husbands(C) as to the Lord, 23 because the husband is the head of the wife(D) as Christ is the head(E) of the church. He is the Savior of the body.(F) 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives are to submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives,(G) just as Christ loved(H) the church and gave himself(I) for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing[b] her with the washing of water by the word. 27 He did this to present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless.(J) 28 In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, 30 since we are members of his body.[c] 31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,(K) and the two will become one flesh.[d](L) 32 This mystery(M) is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband.

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Footnotes

  1. 5:22 Other mss omit submit
  2. 5:26 Or having cleansed
  3. 5:30 Other mss add and of his flesh and of his bones
  4. 5:31 Gn 2:24

22 For example, wives should submit to their husbands as if to the Lord. 23 A husband is the head of his wife like Christ is head of the church, that is, the savior of the body. 24 So wives submit to their husbands in everything like the church submits to Christ. 25 As for husbands, love your wives just like Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. 26 He did this to make her holy by washing her in a bath of water with the word. 27 He did this to present himself with a splendid church, one without any sort of stain or wrinkle on her clothes, but rather one that is holy and blameless. 28 That’s how husbands ought to love their wives—in the same way as they do their own bodies. Anyone who loves his wife loves himself. 29 No one ever hates his own body, but feeds it and takes care of it just like Christ does for the church 30 because we are parts of his body. 31 This is why a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two of them will be one body.[a] 32 Marriage is a significant allegory,[b] and I’m applying it to Christ and the church. 33 In any case, as for you individually, each one of you should love his wife as himself, and wives should respect[c] their husbands.

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