1 In the same way, you wives must be submissive to your husbands, so that even those who will not believe the Word may be won over without a word by the behaviour of their wives, 2 when they see how chaste and reverent you are. 3 You are not to adorn yourselves on the outside with braids of hair and ornaments of gold and changes of dress, 4 but inside, in the heart, with the immortal beauty of a gentle and modest spirit, which in the sight of God is of rare value. 5 It was in this way long ago that the holy women who hoped in God adorned themselves. They were submissive to their husbands. 6 Thus Sara obeyed Abraham by calling him 'lord'. And you are daughters of Sara if you do what is right and yield to no panic.
7 In the same way you husbands must be considerate in living with your wives, since they are the weaker sex; you must honour them as heirs equally with yourselves of the grace of Life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
8 Lastly, you must all be united, you must have sympathy, brotherly love, compassion, and humility, 9 never paying back evil for evil, never reviling when you are reviled, but on the contrary blessing. For this is your vocation, to bless and to inherit blessing;
10 he who would love Life and enjoy good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile: 11 let him shun wrong and do right, let him seek peace and make peace his aim. 12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the upright, and his ears are open to their cry; but the face of the Lord is set against wrongdoers.
13 Yet who will wrong you if you have a passion for goodness? 14 Even supposing you have to suffer for the sake of what is right, still you are blessed. Have no fear of their threats, do not let that trouble you, 15 but reverence Christ as Lord in your own hearts. Always be ready with a reply for anyone who calls you to account for the hope you cherish, but answer gently and with a sense of reverence; 16 see that you have a clean conscience, so that, for all their slander of you, these libellers of your good Christian behaviour may be ashamed. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing right (if that should be the will of God) than for doing wrong.
18 Christ himself died for sins, once for all, a just man for unjust men, that he might bring us near to God; in the flesh he was put to death but he came to life in the Spirit.
19 (It was in the Spirit that Enoch also went and preached to the imprisoned spirits 20 who had disobeyed at the time when God's patience held out during the construction of the ark in the days of Noah ??the ark by which only a few souls, eight in all, were brought safely through the water.) 21 Baptism, the counterpart of that, saves you to-day (not the mere washing of dirt from the flesh but the prayer for a clean conscience before God) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ 22 who is at God's right hand ??for he went to heaven after angels, authorities, and powers celestial had been made subject to him.)