1 Corinthians

¹ Imitate me, as I myself imitate Christ.

² I praise you, indeed, because you never forget me, and are keeping my injunctions in mind, exactly as I laid them on you.

³ But I am anxious that you should understand that the Christ is the head of every man, that man is the head of woman, and that God is the head of the Christ.

⁴ Any man who keeps his head covered, when praying or preaching in public, dishonors him who is his head;

⁵ while any woman, who prays or preaches in public bare-headed, dishonors him who is her head; for that is to make herself like one of the shameless women who shave their heads.

⁶ Indeed, if a woman does not keep her head covered, she may as well cut her hair short. But, since to cut her hair short, or shave it off, marks her as one of the shameless women, she should keep her head covered.

⁷ A man ought not to have his head covered, for he has been from the beginning the likeness of God and the reflection of his glory, but woman is the reflection of man’s glory.

⁸ For it was not man who was taken from woman, but woman who was taken from man.

⁹ Besides, man was not created for the sake of woman, but woman for the sake of man.

¹⁰ And, therefore, a woman ought to wear on her head a symbol of her subjection, because of the presence of the angels.

¹¹ Still, when in union with the Lord, woman is not independent of man, or man of woman;

¹² for just as woman came from man, so man comes by means of woman; and all things come from God.

¹³ Judge for yourselves. Is it fitting that a woman should pray to God in public with her head uncovered?

¹⁴ Does not nature herself teach us that, while for a man to wear his hair long is degrading to him,

¹⁵ a woman’s long hair is her glory? Her hair has been given her to serve as a covering.

¹⁶ If, however, anyone still thinks it right to contest the point – well, we have no such custom, nor have the churches of God.

¹⁷ In giving directions on the next subject, I cannot praise you; because your meetings do more harm than good.

¹⁸ To begin with, I am told that when you meet together as a church there are divisions among you. In part I believe this,

¹⁹ indeed, there must be parties among you, so that the people of real worth become known.

²⁰ When you meet together, as I understand, it is not possible to eat the Lord’s Supper;

²¹ for, as you eat, each of you tries to secure his own supper first, with the result that one has too little to eat, and another has too much to drink!

²² Have you no houses in which you can eat and drink? Or are you trying to show your contempt for the church of God, and to humiliate the poor? What can I say to you? Should I praise you? In this matter I cannot praise you.

²³ For I myself received from the Lord the account which I have in turn given to you – how the Lord Jesus, on the very night of his betrayal, took some bread,

²⁴ and, after saying the thanksgiving, broke it and said “This is my own body given on your behalf. Do this in memory of me.”

²⁵ And in the same way with the cup, after supper, saying “This cup is the new covenant made by my blood. Do this, whenever you drink it, in memory of me.”

²⁶ For whenever you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death – until he comes.

²⁷ Therefore, whoever eats the bread, or drinks the Lord’s cup, in an irreverent spirit, will have to answer for an offense against the Lord’s body and blood.

²⁸ Let everyone look into their own heart, and only then eat of the bread and drink from the cup.

²⁹ For the person who eats and drinks brings a judgment on themselves by their eating and drinking, when they do not discern the body.

³⁰ That is why so many among you are weak and ill, and why some are sleeping.

³¹ But, if we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged.

³² Yet, in being judged by the Lord, we are undergoing discipline, so that we may not have judgment passed on us with the rest of the world.

³³ Therefore, my friends, when you meet together to eat the Supper, wait for one another.

³⁴ If anyone is hungry, they should eat at home, so that your meetings may not bring a judgment on you. The other details I will settle when I come.