The apostle had used this same word in 1 Peter 2:12. It is a rare word for “to see,” catching the concept of looking carefully. The fact is that persons who are different (“sojourners and exiles”) catch an observer’s eye in a deeper way than those who are not different, so that the observer looks longer and more carefully. The implication is that the believing, born-again wife needs to think of being under constant scrutiny from her unbelieving, unborn-again husband. The idea is to make him—unborn as he is and so still in the womb of spiritual darkness—envious of the freedoms and perspectives that come with her deliverance from the confines of the womb (see on 1 Peter 1:3).
2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct.