Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
Parallel translations
- WEB Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to 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, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.
- 1 Pet 3:1–6Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;
- Titus 2:5To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
- Gen 3:16Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
- Eph 5:22Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
- Esth 1:20And when the king’s decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire, (for it is great,) all the wives shall give to their husbands honour, both to great and small.
- 1 Tim 2:11–12Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
- Esth 1:16–18And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the people that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus.
- 1 Cor 14:34Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
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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.