O merciful and faithful Father, since you have called me to domestic duties in marriage, a state in which I can also serve and please you, help me above all to fear you, also to love and trust in you. Furthermore, help me also to respect, honor, and love my husband, not coveting any other. According to your command, grant that I submit to my husband, yielding to him with all readiness. Give me that mild, peaceful spirit and those many virtues shown by the women of ancient times, who placed their hope in God and were subject to their husbands. Grant me also the spirit of respect and humility, that I may with kind and modest words in a spirit of piety soothe any anger of my husband, and treat him with gentleness and patience. May I rear my children to the praise and glory of your holy name, and may they readily follow my guidance in doing what is noble and good.
Grant, furthermore, that I may truly be a helper suitable for my husband, not wasting any material goods which you have given us. Help me to be patient and satisfied with my position in life, and not be dismayed in any time of trials and affliction.
O Lord God, to your gracious care I commit myself, my husband, and our children. Preserve us all from sin, shame, and all ills, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Abridged Treasury of Prayers: An Epitome from the Larger Gebets-Schatz (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House), further abridged and rewritten by M. H. Eibs (1996; rpt. Mankato, MN: Lutheran Conference of Confessional Fellowship Publishing, 2001), 18.
