2I COMMEND YOU for always keeping me in mind, and maintaining the tradition I handed on to you. 3But I wish you to understand that, while every man has Christ for his Head, woman's head is man, as Christ's Head is God. 4A man who keeps his head covered when he prays or prophesies brings shame on his head; 5a woman, on the contrary, brings shame on her head if she prays or prophesies bareheaded: it is as bad as if her head were shaved. 6If a woman is not to wear a veil she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for her to be cropped and shaved, then she should wear a veil. 7A man has no need to cover his head, because man is the image of God, and the mirror of his glory, whereas woman reflects the glory of man. 8For man did not originally spring from woman, but woman was made out of man; 9and man was not created for woman's sake, but woman for the sake of man; 10and therefore it is woman's duty to have a sign of authority on her head, out of regard for the angels. 11And yet, in Christ's fellowship woman is as essential to man as man to woman. 12If woman was made out of man, it is through woman that man now comes to be; and God is the source of all.
13Judge for yourselves: is it fitting for a woman to pray to God bare-headed? 14Does not Nature herself teach you that while flowing locks disgrace a man, they are a woman's glory? 15For her locks were given for covering.
16However, if you insist on arguing, let me tell you, there is no such custom among us, or in any of the congregations of God's people.
17In giving you these injunctions I must mention a practice which I cannot commend: your meetings tend to do more harm than good. 18To begin with, I am told that when you meet as a congregation you fall into sharply divided groups; and I believe there is some truth in it 19(for dissensions are necessary if only to show which of your members are sound). 20The result is that when you meet as a congregation, it is impossible for you to eat the Lord's Supper, 21because each of you is in such a hurry to eat his own, and while one goes hungry another has too much to drink. 22Have you no homes of your own to eat and drink in? Or are you so contemptuous of the church of God that you shame its poorer members? What am I to say? Can I commend you? On this point, certainly not!
23For the tradition which I handed on to you came to me from the Lord himself: that the Lord Jesus, on the night of his arrest, took bread and, 24after giving thanks to God, broke it and said: 'This is my body, which is for you; do this as a memorial of me.' 25In the same way, he took the cup after supper, and said: 'This cup is the new covenant sealed by my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this as a memorial of me.' 26For every time you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord, until he comes.
27It follows that anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of desecrating the body and blood of the Lord. 28A man must test himself before eating his share of the bread and drinking from the cup. 29For he who eats and drinks eats and drinks judgement on himself if he does not discern the Body. 30That is why many of you are feeble and sick, and a number have died. 31But if we examined ourselves, we should not thus fall under judgement. 32When, however, we do fall under the Lord's judgement, he is disciplining us, to save us from being condemned with the rest of the world.
33Therefore, my brothers, when you meet for a meal, wait for one another. 34If you are hungry, eat at home, so that in meeting together you may not fall under judgement. The other matters I will arrange when I come.
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