Children and Parents

6 ^(A)Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ^2 (B)“Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), ³ “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” ⁴ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, ^(C)but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Bondservants and Masters

^5 (D)Bondservants,^[a] obey your earthly masters^[b] with fear and trembling, ^(E)with a sincere heart, ^(F)as you would Christ, ⁶ not by the way of eye-service, as ^(G)people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, ⁷ rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man,

Submission to Authority

^13 (A)Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution,^[a] whether it be to the emperor^[b] as supreme, ¹⁴ or to governors as sent by him ^(B)to punish those who do evil and ^(C)to praise those who do good.

Submission to the Authorities

13 Let every person ^(A)be subject to the governing authorities. For ^(B)there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. ² Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. ³ For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you ^(C)will receive his approval, ⁴ for ^(D)he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, ^(E)an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. ⁵ Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also ^(F)for the sake of conscience. ⁶ For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing.

¹⁷ Obey ^(A)your leaders and submit to them, ^(B)for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to ^(C)give an account. ^(D)Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

¹⁹ Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall ^(A)represent the people before God and ^(B)bring their cases to God, ²⁰ and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know ^(C)the way in which they must walk and ^(D)what they must do. ²¹ Moreover, look for ^(E)able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. ²² And ^(F)let them judge the people at all times. ^(G)Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will ^(H)bear the burden with you. ²³ If you do this, God will direct you, you will be ^(I)able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.”

²⁴ So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.