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OET-RV by cross-referenced section 1COR 11:2

1COR 11:2–11:16 ©

This is still a very early look into the unfinished text of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check the text in advance before using in public.

Men’s and women’s head coverings

1Cor 11:2–16

11:2 Men’s and women’s head coverings

2Now I commend you all because you always think of what I teach and do, and because you carefully believe and do what I taught you all, 3but I want you all to know that the messiah is the head of every man, and the man is the head of his wife, and God is the head of the messiah.[fn] 4Any man who prays or speaks out a prophecy with his head covered is dishonouring his head, 5but any woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonours her head, because it’s just as if her head had been shaved. 6In fact if a woman doesn’t cover her head, then she should cut her hair off, but if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, then she should cover her head. 7On one side, a man shouldn’t cover his head because men present God’s image and his honour, but on the other side, women present their husbands’ honour,[ref] 8because man wasn’t made from the woman, but the first woman was made out of man.[ref] 9Indeed, men weren’t created for women, but women for men. 10Because of that, women should have authority on their heads, because of the messengers.[fn] 11Nevertheless, in Messiah, women are not independent from men, nor are men independent from women, 12because just as the first woman came out of the man, so too men are born from women, but everything comes from God.

13So judge for yourselves: is it proper for women to pray to God with their heads uncovered? 14Doesn’t nature itself teach you all that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace for him, 15but if a woman has long hair, it’s part of her beauty because long hair has been given to women as a covering? 16However, if anyone’s inclined to be contentious about this, that’s not how either we ourselves or God’s assemblies behave.


11:3 The translators expect that this talk of ‘the head’ is referring to authority, but because our modern society has become more sensitive to these issues, we decided to keep it literal here, thus letting our readers decide for themselves what Paul probably meant. (Having done that, our readers can also consider for themselves whether this might have been a cultural necessity in and around Corinth, or whether it has widespread application to all cultures.)

11:10 Again, a rather literal translation because honestly, no one is really certain about what Paul was meaning here. See also https://GitHub.com/openenglishbible/Open-English-Bible/issues/356 and https://UASVBible.org/2024/02/03/unveiling-the-meaning-of-authority-in-1-corinthians-1110-a-textual-and-exegetical-clarification.


Collected OET-RV cross-references

Gen 1:26-27:

26Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish in the sea and over the birds in the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every creature moving on the earth.”[ref] 27Then God created humankind in his image, yes, created in the image of God—male and female he created them.[ref]


1:26: 1Cor 11:7.

1:27-28: Gen 5:1-2.

Gen 2:18-23:

18Then Yahweh God said, “It’s not good for the man to be alone, so I’ll make a suitable helper for him.”

19Now Yahweh God had formed every living thing of the field and every bird of the sky from the ground, so he brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that would become its name. 20The man gave names to all the various livestock and to the birds of the sky and to every living creature in the fields, but none of them was a suitable companion to help him.

21So Yahweh God caused the man to go into a deep sleep, and then while he was sleeping, he removed one of his ribs and closed up over its place with flesh. 22Then Yahweh God used the rib which he had taken from the man to form into a woman, and he brought her to the man, 23and the man said:

“Now this is bone from my bones

and flesh from my flesh.

She’ll be named ‘woman

because she came from a man.”