1 Corinthians 11:2-16

EasyEnglish Bible

Christian meetings

² I praise you, because you remember me and everything that I taught you. You continue to obey the message that I gave to you. ³ This is something that I want you to know: Christ has authority over every man, as his head. Also, the head of a woman is her husband. And the head of Christ is God.

⁴ So, when you meet together to worship God, remember this. When a man prays to God, or he speaks a message from God, he should not cover his head. If he does that, he does not respect the one who is his head. ⁵ But when a woman prays or she speaks a message from God, she should cover her head. If she does not cover her head, she does not respect the one who is her head. It would be as bad as if she cut off all her hair. ⁶ If a woman refuses to cover her head, she should cut off her hair. But, if a woman has no hair, or she has very short hair, she becomes very ashamed. So it is better that she should cover her head in your meetings.

⁷ Men show what God is like and they show how great God is. So a man should not cover his head in your meetings. But a woman shows how great men are. ⁸ When God made people, he did not use part of the woman to make a man. God made the man first. Then he made the woman from part of the man.^{[a] 9} Neither did God make the man to help the woman. No, God made the woman to help the man. ¹⁰ That is why a woman should cover her head. It shows that she has authority on her head. That makes the angels happy.

¹¹ But remember this: we all belong to the Lord. Men and women need to help one another. They can not remain separate. ¹² It is true that God used part of the man to make the first woman. But it is also true that women give birth to men. Remember that all things come from God himself.

¹³ Think about this: If a woman prays to God but she has not covered her head, is that proper? ¹⁴ If a man has long hair, that should make him ashamed. That is clear. ¹⁵ But if a woman has long hair, she can be proud of it. God gave beautiful hair to women to cover their heads. ¹⁶ Some people may want to argue about this. But I have told you what we do. And all of God's people in the different churches do the same thing.