Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
Parallel translations
- WEB Wives, be in subjection to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
- KJV Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.
- BSB Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
- NKJV Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
- NLT Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting for those who belong to the Lord.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Wives are to submit to their husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. This begins Paul's instructions for Christian households.
Overview
Paul opens his 'household code' addressing wives to 'be in subjection to your husbands,' qualified by 'as is fitting in the Lord.' This submission is voluntary, ordered, and shaped by Christ's lordship, not a license for harshness, since husbands are commanded to love sacrificially in the verses that follow. Faithful Christians discuss how this applies today, but agree it is rooted in the Lord and paired with the husband's call to selfless love.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Eph 5:22Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
- Titus 2:4–5that they may train the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,
- 1 Cor 11:3But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
- 1 Pet 3:1–6In the same way, wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; so that, even if any don’t obey the Word, they may be won by the behavior of their wives without a word;
- Gen 3:16To the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bear children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
- 1 Tim 2:12But I don’t permit a woman to teach, nor to exercise authority over a man, but to be in quietness.
- Esth 1:20When the king’s decree which he shall make is published throughout all his kingdom (for it is great), all the wives will give their husbands honor, both great and small.”
- 1 Cor 14:34Let the women be quiet in the assemblies, for it has not been permitted for them to be talking except in submission, as the law also says,
- Acts 5:29But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
- Eph 5:3But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The image of the invisible God, firstborn over creation, in whom all things hold together and all the fullness of God dwells bodily — supreme over every power.
How Colossians 3:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.