The Message Bible MSG
King James Version KJV
1 The same goes for you wives: Be good wives to your husbands, responsive to their needs. There are husbands who, indifferent as they are to any words about God, will be captivated
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Likewise, 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;
2 by your life of holy beauty.
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While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.
3 What matters is not your outer appearance - the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes -
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Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
4 but your inner disposition.
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But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
5 The holy women of old were beautiful before God that way, and were good, loyal wives to their husbands.
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For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:
6 Sarah, for instance, taking care of Abraham, would address him as "my dear husband." You'll be true daughters of Sarah if you do the same, unanxious and unintimidated.
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Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.
7 The same goes for you husbands: Be good husbands to your wives. Honor them, delight in them. As women they lack some of your advantages. But in the new life of God's grace, you're equals. Treat your wives, then, as equals so your prayers don't run aground. Suffering for Doing Good
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Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.
8 Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble.
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Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:
9 That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless - that's your job, to bless. You'll be a blessing and also get a blessing.
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Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.
10 Whoever wants to embrace life and see the day fill up with good, Here's what you do: Say nothing evil or hurtful;
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For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:
11 Snub evil and cultivate good; run after peace for all you're worth.
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Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.
12 God looks on all this with approval, listening and responding well to what he's asked; But he turns his back on those who do evil things.
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For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
13 If with heart and soul you're doing good, do you think you can be stopped?
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And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?
14 Even if you suffer for it, you're still better off. Don't give the opposition a second thought.
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But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;
15 Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you're living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy.
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But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
16 Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They'll end up realizing that they're the ones who need a bath.
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Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.
17 It's better to suffer for doing good, if that's what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad.
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For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
18 That's what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others' sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all - was put to death and then made alive - to bring us to God.
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For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
19 He went and proclaimed God's salvation to earlier generations who ended up in the prison of judgment
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By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
20 because they wouldn't listen. You know, even though God waited patiently all the days that Noah built his ship, only a few were saved then, eight to be exact - saved from the water by the water.
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Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
21 The waters of baptism do that for you, not by washing away dirt from your skin but by presenting you through Jesus' resurrection before God with a clear conscience.
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The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
22 Jesus has the last word on everything and everyone, from angels to armies. He's standing right alongside God, and what he says goes.
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Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The King James Version is in the public domain.