1 Corinthians 11:6

6 For if a woman does not cover herself, let her [hair] be shorn off. But if [it is] shameful for a woman to [have her head] shorn or shaved, let her cover her [head].

1 Corinthians 11:6 Meaning and Commentary

1 Corinthians 11:6

For if the woman be not covered
That is, if her head is not covered with some sort of covering, as is the custom of the place where she lives,

let her also be shorn;
let her hair be cut short; let her wear it as men do theirs; and let her see how she will look, and how she will like that, and how she will be looked upon, and liked by others; everybody will laugh at her, and she will be ashamed of herself:

but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven:
as it is accounted in all civilized nations: the very Heathens ^F1 speak of it as a thing abominable, and of which there should not be one single dreadful example: then let her be covered; with a veil, or any sort of covering in common use.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Vid. Apul. Metamorph. l. 2. p. 21.

1 Corinthians 11:6 In-Context

4 Every man who prays or prophesies [while] having [something] on [his] head dishonors his head,

5 but every woman who prays or prophesies with uncovered head dishonors her head, for she is one and the same with the one whose [head] is shaved.

6 For if a woman does not cover herself, let her [hair] be shorn off. But if [it is] shameful for a woman to [have her head] shorn or shaved, let her cover her [head].

7 For indeed a man ought not to cover his head, [because he] is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man.

8 For man is not from woman, but woman from man.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "to be"
• [b] Literally "herself"