Wives and Husbands
7 Husbands, in the same way, live with your wives with an understanding of their weaker nature[d] yet showing them honor as coheirs of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.
Do No Evil
8 Now finally, all of you should be like-minded and sympathetic, should love believers,[e] and be compassionate and humble,[f] 9 not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult but, on the contrary, giving a blessing, since you were called for this, so that you can inherit a blessing.
and to see good days
must keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from speaking deceit,
11 and he must turn away from evil
and do what is good.
He must seek peace and pursue it,
12 because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and His ears are open to their request.
But the face of the Lord is against
those who do what is evil.[g]
Undeserved Suffering
13 And who will harm[h] you if you are deeply committed to what is good?[i] 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear or be disturbed,[j] 15 but honor[k] the Messiah[l] as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason[m] for the hope that is in you. 16 However, do this with gentleness and respect, keeping your conscience clear,[n][o] so that when you are accused,[p] those who denounce your Christian life[q] will be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will,[r] than for doing evil.
the righteous for the unrighteous,[t]
that He might bring you[u] to God,
after being put to death in the fleshly realm[v]
but made alive in the spiritual realm.[w]
19 In that state[x] He also went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison[y] 20 who in the past were disobedient, when God patiently waited in the days of Noah while an ark was being prepared. In it a few—that is, eight people[z]—were saved through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the pledge[aa] of a good conscience toward God) through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 22 Now that He has gone into heaven, He is at God’s right hand with angels, authorities, and powers subject to Him.
Footnotes
- 1 Peter 3:1 Lit may be gained
- 1 Peter 3:3 Lit and of putting around of gold items
- 1 Peter 3:4 Lit Instead, the hidden man of
- 1 Peter 3:7 Lit understanding as the weaker vessel
- 1 Peter 3:8 Lit sympathetic, loving the brothers
- 1 Peter 3:8 Other mss read courteous
- 1 Peter 3:12 Ps 34:12-16
- 1 Peter 3:13 Or mistreat, or do evil to
- 1 Peter 3:13 Or you are partisans for the good; lit you are zealots
- 1 Peter 3:14 Is 8:12
- 1 Peter 3:15 Or sanctify; lit set apart
- 1 Peter 3:15 Other mss read set God
- 1 Peter 3:15 Or who demands of you an accounting
- 1 Peter 3:16 Lit good
- 1 Peter 3:16 Or keeping a clear conscience
- 1 Peter 3:16 Other mss read when they speak against you as evildoers
- 1 Peter 3:16 Lit your good behavior in Christ
- 1 Peter 3:17 Lit if the will of God should will
- 1 Peter 3:18 Other mss read died for sins on our behalf; other mss read died for our sins; other mss read died for sins on your behalf
- 1 Peter 3:18 Or the Righteous One in the place of the unrighteous many
- 1 Peter 3:18 Other mss read us
- 1 Peter 3:18 Or in the flesh
- 1 Peter 3:18 Or in the spirit, or in the Spirit
- 1 Peter 3:19 Or In whom, or At that time, or In which
- 1 Peter 3:19 Perhaps fallen supernatural beings or angels; 2Pt 2:4; Jd 6
- 1 Peter 3:20 Lit souls
- 1 Peter 3:21 Or the appeal