and said, "Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She answered, "I am running away from my mistress."

He said, "Go back to her and be her slave."

Then they asked him, "Where is your wife Sarah?" "She is there in the tent," he answered.

She was a bold and shameless woman who always walked the streets

How hard it is to find a capable wife! She is worth far more than jewels!

As long as she lives, she does him good and never harm.

She brings home food from out-of-the-way places, as merchant ships do.

She looks at land and buys it, and with money she has earned she plants a vineyard.

She knows the value of everything she makes, and works late into the night.

She is generous to the poor and needy.

She makes bedspreads and wears clothes of fine purple linen.

She makes clothes and belts, and sells them to merchants.

She speaks with a gentle wisdom.

Her children show their appreciation, and her husband praises her.

Charm is deceptive and beauty disappears, but a woman who honors the LORD should be praised.

They also learn to waste their time in going around from house to house; but even worse, they learn to be gossips and busybodies, talking of things they should not.

In Joppa there was a woman named Tabitha, who was a believer. (Her name in Greek is Dorcas, meaning "a deer.") She spent all her time doing good and helping the poor.

So Peter got ready and went with them. When he arrived, he was taken to the room upstairs, where all the widows crowded around him, crying and showing him all the shirts and coats that Dorcas had made while she was alive.

and have a reputation for good deeds: a woman who brought up her children well, received strangers in her home, performed humble duties for other Christians, helped people in trouble, and devoted herself to doing good.

And he said to the woman, "I will increase your trouble in pregnancy and your pain in giving birth. In spite of this, you will still have desire for your husband, yet you will be subject to him."

But I want you to understand that Christ is supreme over every man, the husband is supreme over his wife, and God is supreme over Christ.

the women should keep quiet in the meetings. They are not allowed to speak; as the Jewish Law says, they must not be in charge.

Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands as to the Lord.

And so wives must submit themselves completely to their husbands just as the church submits itself to Christ.

Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, for that is what you should do as Christians.

Women should learn in silence and all humility.

I do not allow them to teach or to have authority over men; they must keep quiet.

In the same way you wives must submit yourselves to your husbands, so that if any of them do not believe God's word, your conduct will win them over to believe. It will not be necessary for you to say a word,

You should not use outward aids to make yourselves beautiful, such as the way you fix your hair, or the jewelry you put on, or the dresses you wear.

For the devout women of the past who placed their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful by submitting themselves to their husbands.

But because you have shown such contempt for the LORD in doing this, your child will die."

How long, O God, will our enemies laugh at you? Will they insult your name forever?

The scripture says, "Because of you Jews, the Gentiles speak evil of God."

So I would prefer that the younger widows get married, have children, and take care of their homes, so as to give our enemies no chance of speaking evil of us.

Those who are slaves must consider their masters worthy of all respect, so that no one will speak evil of the name of God and of our teaching.