Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
Parallel translations
- KJV Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
- BSB Wives, submit to your husbands as to 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, be in subjection to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
- 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;
- Titus 2:5to be sober minded, chaste, workers at home, kind, being in subjection to their own husbands, that God’s word may not be blasphemed.
- 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.”
- Eph 5:22Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
- 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 Tim 2:11–12Let a woman learn in quietness with full submission.
- Esth 1:16–18Memucan answered before the king and the princes, “Vashti the queen has not done wrong to just the king, but also to all the princes, and to all the people who are in all the provinces of the King Ahasuerus.
- 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,
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.