{Love your wives} (agap(8374)e tas gunaikas). Present active
imperative, "keep on loving." That is precisely the point. {Be
not bitter} (m(8820)pikrainesthe). Present middle imperative in
prohibition: "Stop being bitter" or "do not have the habit of
being bitter." This is the sin of husbands. Pikrain(935c) is an old
verb from pikros (bitter). In N.T. only here and  Re 8:11  10:9f . The bitter word rankles in the soul.