the Second Week after Easter
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Easy-to-Read Version
1 Corinthians 7:16
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
- Nave'sDictionaries:
- BridgewayEncyclopedias:
- InternationalParallel Translations
Wife, for all you know, you might save your husband. Husband, for all you know, you might save your wife.
For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt saue thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt saue thy wife?
For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?
For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
Wife, you don't know; maybe you will save your husband. And husband, you don't know; maybe you will save your wife.
For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband [by leading him to Christ]? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife [by leading her to Christ]?
For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?
For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?
How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
And besides, how do you know if you will be able to save your husband or wife who isn't a follower?
For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
For what knowest thou, O wife, if thou shalt save thy husband? or what knowest thou, O husband, if thou shalt save thy wife?
For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt saue thine husband? Or what knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt saue thy wife?
For how do you know, O wife, that you shall save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, that you shall save your wife?
How can you be sure, Christian wife, that you will not save your husband? Or how can you be sure, Christian husband, that you will not save your wife?
For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
For what do you know, wife, whether you will save the husband? Or what do you know, husband, whether you will save the wife?
For how knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O husband, whether thou shalt save thy wife?
For how may you be certain, O wife, that you will not be the cause of salvation to your husband? or you, O husband, that you may not do the same for your wife?
For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
Wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband? Husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife?1 Peter 3:1;">[xr]
For how knowest thou, wife, whether thou mayest save thy husband ? Or knowest thou, man, if thy wife thou mayest save ?
For how knowest thou, O wife, whether thou wilt procure life to thy husband? Or, thou husband, knowest thou, whether thou wilt procure life to thy wife?
For howe knowest thou O woman, whether thou shalt saue thy husbande? or how knowest thou O man, whether thou shalt saue thy wyfe?
For how knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O husband, whether thou shalt save thy wife?
For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
For how knowest thou, O wife, but thou mayst save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O husband, but thou mayst save thy wife?
For what assurance have you, O woman, as to whether you will save your husband? Or what assurance have you, O man, as to whether you will save your wife?
And wherof wost thou, womman, if thou schalt make the man saaf; or wherof wost thou, man, if thou schalt make the womman saaf?
For how do you know, O wife, whether you shall save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you shall save your wife?
For how knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save [thy] husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save [thy] wife?
For how do you know, wife, whether you will bring your husband to salvation? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will bring your wife to salvation?
For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?
Don't you wives realize that your husbands might be saved because of you? And don't you husbands realize that your wives might be saved because of you?
Christian wife, how do you know you will not help your husband to become a Christian? Or Christian husband, how do you know you will not help your wife to become a Christian?
Wife, for all you know, you might save your husband. Husband, for all you know, you might save your wife.
For how knowest thou, O woman, whether, thy husband, thou shalt save? Or how knowest thou, O man, whether, thy wife, thou shalt save?
For how knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? Or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?
Wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband? Husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife?
For how knowest thou o woman whether thou shalt save that man or no? Other how knowest thou o man whether thou shalt save that woman or no?
for what, hast thou known, O wife, whether the husband thou shalt save? or what, hast thou known, O husband, whether the wife thou shalt save?
For what knowest thou O woma, whether thou shalt saue ye ma? Or what knowest thou O man, whether thou shalt saue the woman?
O wife, but you may save your husband? or how do you know, O man, but you may save your wife?
Don't forget though that an unbelieving husband might be saved because of the believing wife and vice versa.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
O wife: 1 Corinthians 9:22, Proverbs 11:30, Luke 15:10, 1 Timothy 4:16, James 5:19, James 5:20, 1 Peter 3:1, 1 Peter 3:2
how: Gr. what
Reciprocal: Micah 6:8 - O man Romans 2:1 - O man Romans 9:20 - O man Romans 11:14 - by 1 Corinthians 9:19 - that
Cross-References
Then the Lord said to Noah, "I have seen that you are a good man, even among the evil people of this time. So gather your family, and all of you go into the boat.
Get seven pairs (seven males and seven females) of every kind of clean animal. And get one pair (one male and one female) of every other animal on the earth. Lead all these animals into the boat with you.
Get seven pairs (seven males and seven females) of all the birds. This will allow all these animals to continue living on the earth after the other animals are destroyed.
Seven days from now, I will send much rain on the earth. It will rain for 40 days and 40 nights, and I will wipe everything off the face of the earth. I will destroy everything I made."
Noah did everything the Lord told him to do.
Seven days later the flood started. The rain began to fall on the earth.
God lives forever. He is your place of safety. His power continues forever! He is protecting you. He will force your enemies to leave your land. He will say, ‘Destroy the enemy!'
So we are not afraid when the earth quakes and the mountains fall into the sea.
As you go through life, you will always be safe and never fall.
"So the foolish girls went to buy oil. While they were gone, the bridegroom came. The girls who were ready went in with the bridegroom to the wedding feast. Then the door was closed and locked.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
For what knowest thou, O wife,.... These words may be understood, as containing a reason either why the believing party should be easy at the departure of the unbeliever, after all proper methods have been used in vain to retain him or her; taken from the uncertainty and improbability of being of any use to them, to bring them to the knowledge of Christ, and salvation by him; "for what knowest thou, O wife"; thou dost not know, thou canst not know, thou canst not be sure,
whether thou shall save thy husband? be the means of bringing of him under the means of grace, and so of his conversion and salvation; there is no likelihood of it, since he is such an implacable enemy to Christ, and so bitterly averse to the Gospel, and the ordinances of it; and therefore since he is determined to separate, even let him go: or else, as rendering a reason why the believer should seek for peace and reconciliation, and by all means, if possible, continue to dwell with the unbeliever; taken from hopes of being serviceable under a divine influence and blessing, for their spiritual and eternal good, the wife for the good of the husband; by whose conversation he may be won over, and prevailed upon to entertain a better opinion of the Christian religion; to take a liking to the Gospel, and to attend upon the ministry of the word, which may be made the power of God unto salvation to him:
or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shall save thy wife; this may possibly be done, in the same manner as now suggested: persons in such a relation have often great influence upon one another, and are by divine Providence often great blessings to each other, in things spiritual as well as temporal. This puts me in mind of a case related by the Jewish doctors a:
"it happened to a holy man that he married a holy woman, and they had no children; say they, we are of no manner of profit to the blessed God; they stood up and divorced one another; he went and married a wicked woman, and she made him wicked; she went and married a wicked man,
ועשתה אותו צדיק "and she made him righteous";''
or, to use the apostle's phrase, "saved him".
a Bereshit Rabba, sect. 17. fol. 14. 4.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
For what knowest thou ... - The apostle here assigns a reason why the believing party should not separate from the other needlessly, or why he should not desire to be separated. The reason is, the possibility, or the probability, that the unbelieving party might be converted by the example and entreaties of the other.
Whether then ... - How do you know “but” this may be done? Is there not a possibility, nay a probability of it, and is not this a sufficient reason for continuing together?
Save thy husband - Gain him over to the Christian faith; be the means of his conversion and salvation. compare Romans 11:26. We learn from this verse:
(1) That there is a possibility that an unbelieving partner in life may be converted by the example of the other.
(2) That this should be an object of intense interest to the Christian husband or wife, because:
- It will promote the happiness of the other;
- It will promote their usefulness;
- It will be the means of blessing their family, for parents should be united on the subject of religion, and in their example and influence in training up their sons and daughters; and,
- Because the salvation of a beloved husband or wife should be an object of intense interest,
(3) This object is of so much importance that the Christian should be willing to submit to much, to bear much, and to bear long, in order that it may be accomplished. Paul said that it was desirable even to live with a pagan partner to do it; and so also it is desirable to bear much, very much, with even an unkind and fretful temper, with an unfaithful and even an intemperate husband, or with a perverse and peevish wife, if there is a prospect that they may be converted.
(4) This same direction is elsewhere given; 1 Peter 3:1-2.
(5) It is often done. It is not hopeless. Many a wife has thus been the means of saving a husband; many a husband has been the means of the salvation of the wife - In regard to the means by which this is to be hoped for, we may observe that it is not by a harsh, fretful, complaining temper; it is to be by kindness, and tenderness, and love. It is to be by an exemplification of the excellency of religion by example; by patience when provoked, meekness when injured, love when despised, forbearance when words of harshness and irritation are used, and by showing how a Christian can live, and what is the true nature of religion; by kind and affectionate conversation when alone, when the heart is tender, when calamities visit the family, and when the thoughts are drawn along by the events of Providence toward death. Not by harshness or severity of manner, is the result to be hoped for, but by tender entreaty, and mildness of life, and by prayer. Pre eminently this is to be used. When a husband will not hear, God can hear; when he is angry, morose, or unkind, God is gentle, tender, and kind; and when a husband or a wife turn away from the voice of gentle entreaty, God’s ear is open, and God is ready to hear and to bless. Let one thing guide the life. We are never to cease to set a Christian example; never to cease to live as a Christian should live; never to cease to pray fervently to the God of grace, that the partner of our lives may be brought under the full influence of Christian truth, and meet us in the enjoyments of heaven.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse 1 Corinthians 7:16. For what knowest thou, O wife — You that are Christians, and who have heathen partners, do not give them up because they are such, for you may become the means of saving them unto eternal life. Bear your cross, and look up to God, and he may give your unbelieving husband or wife to your prayers.
