Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
Parallel translations
- WEB Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
- KJV Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
- NKJV Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
- NASB Wives, subject yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
- NLT For wives, this means submit to your husbands as 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 called to submit to their own husbands as to the Lord. This submission is offered as part of Christian devotion to Christ.
Overview
Paul addresses wives first in the household code, calling them to be subject to their own husbands 'as to the Lord,' rooting the relationship in their devotion to Christ. Christians sincerely differ over how this applies today, some understanding a complementary order of roles, others emphasizing mutual submission from verse 21. All agree it is voluntary, dignified, and shaped by reverence for Christ rather than mere cultural custom.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Col 3:18Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
- 1 Pet 3:1–6Wives, in the same way, submit yourselves to your husbands, so that even if they refuse to believe the word, they will be won over without words by the behavior of their wives
- Titus 2:5to be self-controlled, pure, managers of their households, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be discredited.
- Gen 3:16To the woman He said: “I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth; in pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
- Eph 5:22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
- Esth 1:20The edict the king issues will be heard throughout his vast kingdom—and so all women, from the least to the greatest, will honor their husbands.”
- 1 Tim 2:11–12A woman must learn in quietness and full submissiveness.
- Esth 1:16–18And in the presence of the king and his princes, Memucan replied, “Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king, but all the princes and the peoples in all the provinces of King Xerxes.
- 1 Cor 14:34Women are to be silent in the churches. They are not permitted to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Every spiritual blessing is 'in Christ,' the head over all things for the church, in whom Jew and Gentile are made one new man by his blood.
How Ephesians 5:22 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.