1Wives, follow the lead of your own husbands. Suppose some of them don’t believe God’s word. Then let them be won to Christ without words by seeing how their wives behave. 2Let them see how pure you are. Let them see that your lives are full of respect for God. 3Fancy hairstyles don’t make you beautiful. Wearing gold jewelry or fine clothes doesn’t make you beautiful. 4Instead, your beauty comes from inside you. It is the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. Beauty like this doesn’t fade away. God places great value on it. 5This is how the holy women of the past used to make themselves beautiful. They put their hope in God. And they followed the lead of their own husbands. 6Sarah was like that. She obeyed Abraham. She called him her master. Do you want to be like her? Then do what is right. And don’t give in to fear.
7Husbands, consider the needs of your wives. They are weaker than you. So treat them with respect. Honor them as those who will share with you the gracious gift of life. Then nothing will stand in the way of your prayers.
Suffering for Doing Good
8Finally, I want all of you to agree with one another. Be understanding. Love one another. Be kind and tender. Be humble. 9Don’t pay back evil with evil. Don’t pay back unkind words with unkind words. Instead, pay back evil with kind words. This is what you have been chosen to do. You will receive a blessing by doing this. 10Scripture says,
“Suppose someone wants to love life
and see good days.
Then they must keep their tongues from speaking evil.
They must keep their lips from telling lies.
11They must turn away from evil and do good.
They must look for peace and go after it.
12The Lord’s eyes look on godly people, and he blesses them.
His ears are open to their prayers.
But the Lord doesn’t bless those who do evil.” (Psalm 34:12–16)
13Who is going to hurt you if you really want to do good? 14But suppose you do suffer for doing what is right. Even then you will be blessed. Scripture says, “Don’t fear what others say they will do to hurt you. Don’t be afraid.” (Isaiah 8:12) 15But make sure that in your hearts you honor Christ as Lord. Always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you about the hope you have. Be ready to give the reason for it. But do it gently and with respect. 16Live so that you don’t have to feel you’ve done anything wrong. Some people may say evil things about your good conduct as believers in Christ. If they do, they will be put to shame for speaking like this about you. 17God may want you to suffer for doing good. That’s better than suffering for doing evil. 18Christ also suffered once for sins. The one who did what is right suffered for those who don’t do right. He suffered to bring you to God. His body was put to death. But the Holy Spirit brought him back to life. 19After that, Christ went and made an announcement to the spirits in prison. 20Long ago these spirits did not obey. That was when God was patient while Noah was building the ark. And only a few people went into the ark. In fact, there were only eight. Those eight people were saved through water. 21The water of the flood is a picture. It is a picture of the baptism that now saves you too. This baptism has nothing to do with removing dirt from your body. Instead, it promises God that you will keep a clear sense of right and wrong. This baptism saves you by the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. 22He has gone into heaven. He is at God’s right hand. Angels, authorities and powers are under his control.
በባልና በሚስት መካከል ሊኖር የሚገባ ግንኙነት
1ሚስቶች ሆይ፤ እናንተም እንደዚሁ ለባሎቻችሁ ተገዙ፤ አንዳንድ ለቃሉ የማይታዘዙ ቢኖሩ፣ ያለ ቃል በሚስቶቻቸው አኗኗር ተማርከው ይመለሳሉ፤ 2ይህም የሚሆነው ንጹሕና ፍጹም አክብሮት የተሞላውን ኑሯችሁን ሲመለከቱ ነው። 3ውበታችሁ በውጫዊ ነገሮች በመሽሞንሞን፣ ይኸውም፣ ሹሩባ በመሠራት፣ በወርቅ በማጌጥና በልብስ አይሁን፤ 4ነገር ግን ውበታችሁ በእግዚአብሔር ፊት ዋጋው እጅግ የከበረ፣ ገርና ጭምት መንፈስ ያለበት፣ ምንጊዜም የማይጠፋ የውስጥ ሰውነት ውበት ይሁን፤ 5ተስፋቸውን በእግዚአብሔር ላይ የጣሉ የቀድሞ ቅዱሳን ሴቶች ራሳቸውን ያስዋቡት በዚህ ዐይነት ለባሎቻቸው በመገዛት ነበርና። 6ሣራም አብርሃምን “ጌታዬ” እያለች ትታዘዘው ነበር፣ እናንተም ምንም ሳትፈሩ መልካም ብታደርጉ የእርሷ ልጆች ናችሁ።
7ባሎች ሆይ፤ እናንተም ደግሞ ጸሎታችሁ እንዳይደናቀፍ በኑሯችሁ ሁሉ ለሚስቶቻችሁ ዐስቡላቸው፤ ደካሞች ስለሆኑና የሕይወትንም በረከት አብረዋችሁ ስለሚወርሱ አክብሯቸው።
መልካም በማድረግ መከራን መቀበል
8በመጨረሻም ሁላችሁ በአንድ ሐሳብ ተስማሙ፤ እርስ በርሳችሁ ተሳሰቡ፤ እንደ ወንድማማቾች ተዋደዱ፤ ርኅሩኆችና ትሑታን ሁኑ። 9ክፉን በክፉ ወይም ስድብን በስድብ ፈንታ አትመልሱ፤ በዚህ ፈንታ ባርኩ፤ ምክንያቱም እናንተ የተጠራችሁት እንደነዚህ ያሉትን ነገሮች እያደረጋችሁ በረከትን ለመውረስ ነው። 10ስለዚህ፣
“ሕይወትን የሚወድድ፣
መልካም ቀኖችን ሊያይ የሚፈልግ፣
ምላሱን ከክፉ፣
ከንፈሮቹንም ተንኰል ከመናገር ይከልክል።
11ከክፉ ይራቅ፤ መልካምንም ያድርግ፤
ሰላምን ይፈልግ፤ ይከተላትም፤
12ምክንያቱም የጌታ ዐይኖች ጻድቃንን ይመለከታሉና፤
ጆሮቹም ጸሎታቸውን ለመስማት የተከፈቱ ናቸው፤
የጌታ ፊት ግን በክፉ አድራጊዎች ላይ ነው።”
13መልካም ነገር ለማድረግ ብትቀኑ የሚጐዳችሁ ማን ነው? 14ነገር ግን ስለ ጽድቅ እንኳ መከራ ቢደርስባችሁ ብፁዓን ናችሁ፤ “ዛቻቸውን አትፍሩ3፥14 ወይም የሚፈሩትን አትፍሩ፤ አትታወኩም።” 15ክርስቶስን ጌታ አድርጋችሁ በልባችሁ ቀድሱት። እናንተ ስላላችሁ ተስፋ ምክንያትን ለሚጠይቋችሁ ሁሉ መልስ ለመስጠት ሁልጊዜ የተዘጋጃችሁ ሁኑ፤ ነገር ግን ይህን ሁሉ በትሕትናና በአክብሮት አድርጉት፤ 16በክርስቶስ ያላችሁን መልካም ጠባይ አክፋፍተው የሚናገሩ ሰዎች በሐሜታቸው እንዲያፍሩ በጎ ኅሊና ይኑራችሁ። 17የእግዚአብሔር ፈቃድ እንዲህ ከሆነ፣ ክፉ ሠርቶ መከራ ከመቀበል ይልቅ መልካም አድርጎ መከራ መቀበል ይሻላል፤ 18እንዲሁም ክርስቶስ ለአንዴና ለመጨረሻ ጊዜ ስለ ኀጢአት ሞቷልና፤ ወደ እግዚአብሔር ያቀርባችሁ ዘንድ ጻድቅ የሆነው እርሱ ስለ ዐመፀኞች ሞተ፤ እርሱ በሥጋ ሞተ፤ በመንፈስ ግን ሕያው ሆነ፤ 19በመንፈስም ሄዶ በወህኒ ቤት ለነበሩ ነፍሳት ሰበከላቸው። 20እነዚህ በወህኒ የነበሩት ነፍሳት ቀድሞ በኖኅ ዘመን መርከብ ሲሠራ እግዚአብሔር በትዕግሥት ይጠብቃቸው የነበሩ እንቢተኞች ናቸው፤ በውሃ የዳኑት ጥቂት፣ ይኸውም ስምንት ሰዎች ብቻ ነበሩ። 21ይህም ውሃ አሁን የጥምቀት ምሳሌ ሆኖ ያድናችኋል፤ ይህም የሰውነትን እድፍ በማስወገድ ሳይሆን በንጹሕ ኅሊና በእግዚአብሔር ፊት የሚቀርብ መማፀኛ3፥21 ወይም ምላሽ ነው፤ የሚያድናችሁም በኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ ትንሣኤ አማካይነት ነው፤ 22እርሱም ወደ ሰማይ ወጥቶ በእግዚአብሔር ቀኝ አለ፤ መላእክትና ሥልጣናት፣ ኀይላትም ተገዝተውለታል።
