Rules for Christian Households

18 ^qWives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19 ^rHusbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. 20 ^sChildren, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 21 ^tFathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. 22 ^uBondservants, obey in everything those who are your ^vearthly masters,¹ not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, ^wfearing the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work heartily, ^xas for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the ^yinheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. 25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is ^zno partiality.

1 Masters, treat your bondservants² justly and fairly, ^aknowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

Wives and Husbands

22 ^xWives, ^ysubmit to your own husbands, ^zas to the Lord. 23 For ^athe husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the ^bhead of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

25 ^cHusbands, love your wives, as Christ ^dloved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might ^esanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 ^fso that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be ^gholy and without blemish.¹ 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as ^htheir own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because ⁱwe are ^jmembers of his body. 31 ^k“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and ^lthe two shall become one flesh.” 32 This ^mmystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Children and Parents

1 ⁿChildren, ^oobey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 ^p“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 ^qFathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but ^rbring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Bondservants and Masters

5 ^sBondservants,^{2 t}obey your earthly masters³ with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, ^uas you would Christ, 6 not by the way of eye-service, as 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, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, this ^vhe will receive back from the Lord, ^wwhether he is a bondservant or is free. 9 Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is ^xboth their Master⁴ and yours is in heaven, and that there is ^yno partiality with him.