1 Corinthians 11

Follow my example, just as I follow the example of Christ.

1Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

Note"Followers" in 1611 English meant imitators, people who copy someone's way of living, not simply people who go along behind a leader.

2Now I praise you, brothers and sisters, because you remember me in everything and hold on to the teachings I handed down to you.

2Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.

NoteThe KJV's "ordinances" sounds like rules or decrees, but the Greek word means traditions: a fixed body of teaching received from someone and passed on intact. The same idea returns in verse 23.

3But I want you to understand this: the head of every man is Christ, the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.

3But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

Note"Head" translates the Greek word kephale. Besides the body part, it could carry the sense of one set over another (authority) and also the sense of source or origin, the way a river has a head. Ancient readers could hear either, the argument that follows uses both ideas, and translators still divide over which Paul intends here.

4Every man who prays or speaks God's message with his head covered brings shame on his head.

4Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.

Note"Prophesying" in Paul's letters means speaking a message from God aloud in the gathering. It need not have anything to do with predicting the future. Note that Paul assumes both men and women do this in the meeting.

5But every woman who prays or speaks God's message with her head uncovered brings shame on her head. It is the same as if her head were shaved.

5But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.

NoteIn Roman Corinth a respectable woman appearing in public commonly veiled her head or drew a fold of her garment over it, while a man of standing might pull his toga over his head when presiding at a sacrifice. The Greek in verse 4 is literally "having something down over the head." Scholars dispute whether Paul means a cloth covering or hair worn bound up rather than hanging loose.

6If a woman will not cover her head, then she might as well have her hair cut off. But if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or shaved, then she should cover her head.

6For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered.

Note"Shorn" means cropped close with shears; "shaven" means razored bare. A woman with a shaved or cropped head in the Greek and Roman world was marked out by mourning, disgrace, or in some places judicial punishment for adultery.

7A man should not cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of the man.

7For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.

Note"Glory" here translates doxa, which in this sentence means honor or credit: the one whose existence reflects well on another, as an achievement reflects on the person who made it.

8For the man did not come from the woman, but the woman came from the man.

8For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.

NoteVerses 8 and 9 refer to the second creation account in Genesis 2, where the woman is formed from the man's side and made as a companion suited to him.

9And the man was not created for the woman, but the woman was created for the man.

9Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.

10For this reason a woman ought to have authority on her head, because of the angels.

10For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels.

Note"Power" is the Greek word exousia, meaning authority. The clause is literally "ought to have authority over her head," and it is genuinely unclear whether this is authority she holds or authority she is under; translations that read "a sign of authority" are supplying the words "a sign of." "Because of the angels" is left unexplained by Paul and has been understood in many ways since; the Greek word angelos can mean either a heavenly being or a human messenger.

11Even so, in the Lord the man is not separate from the woman, and the woman is not separate from the man.

11Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.

12For just as the woman came from the man, so the man is born from the woman. And everything comes from God.

12For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.

13Decide for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?

13Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?

Note"Comely" in 1611 meant fitting or proper, a question of decorum, not of good looks.

14Doesn't nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him,

14Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?

Note"Nature" translates physis, which can mean the way things are constituted and can also shade into long-settled custom. In the Roman cities of Paul's day short hair was the male convention, and long hair on a man was associated with effeminacy or with the appearance of certain cults.

15but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair was given to her as a covering.

15But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.

16But if anyone wants to argue about this, we have no such practice, and neither do the churches of God.

16But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.

Note"Contentious" means fond of arguing, quick to pick a fight over a point. "We have no such custom" is ambiguous in the Greek: it may mean no custom of quarreling about this, or no practice other than the one just described.

17Now in giving these instructions I have no praise for you, because your meetings do more harm than good.

17Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse.

18First of all, I hear that when you meet together as a church, there are splits among you, and I partly believe it.

18For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.

Note"In the church" does not mean in a building. The Greek word ekklesia means an assembly of people, so the phrase means when you gather as a congregation. These meetings were held in private houses.

19For there have to be factions among you, so that it becomes clear which of you have God's approval.

19For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

Note"Heresies" translates haireseis, which at this date meant parties or factions: groups lining up behind rival leaders or preferences. The later sense of false doctrine is not yet in view.

20So when you all come together in one place, what you eat is not the Lord's Supper.

20When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord’s supper.

NoteThe Lord's Supper at Corinth was a full communal meal eaten together in a member's home, with the bread and the cup belonging to it. It was not yet a short rite separate from eating.

21For as you eat, each of you goes ahead with his own meal before anyone else. One person stays hungry while another gets drunk.

21For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.

NoteAt Roman dinners it was normal for the host and guests of higher standing to arrive first and to be served better food and wine, while those who worked for a living, including slaves, came late and got what was left. "Drunken" here simply means drunk.

22What? Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you look down on the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you for this? I will not praise you.

22What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.

Note"Them that have not" means those who have nothing: the poorer members who arrive with no food of their own to contribute.

23For I received from the Lord what I also handed down to you: that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over to his enemies, took bread.

23For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:

Note"Received" and "delivered" are the standard Greek pair for taking over a fixed tradition and handing it on unaltered, word for word. The verb rendered "betrayed" is the same verb as "delivered": Jesus was handed over on the night this handed-down account describes.

24When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "Take it and eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this to remember me."

24And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

NoteThe oldest surviving Greek manuscripts read "this is my body, which is for you." The word "broken" appears in later copies, which are the ones the KJV translators worked from. "Given thanks" translates eucharisteo, the verb behind the later name Eucharist.

25In the same way he also took the cup after supper and said, "This cup is the new agreement between God and his people, made by my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this to remember me."

25After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

Note"When he had supped" means after the meal was finished; the cup came at the end of dinner, which matches the order of a Passover meal. "Testament" in 1611 English meant covenant, a binding agreement between two parties, which is what the Greek word diatheke means here.

26For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you announce the Lord's death until he comes.

26For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.

Note"Shew" in 1611 meant to proclaim or announce publicly, not to display something silently.

27So whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in a way that is not worthy of it will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.

27Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

Note"Unworthily" is an adverb in Greek describing the manner of the eating, not a verdict on whether the eater is a worthy person. "Guilty of the body and blood" is courtroom language: liable with respect to them.

28Instead, let each person examine himself, and then eat the bread and drink from the cup.

28But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.

29For whoever eats and drinks in an unworthy way, without recognizing the Lord's body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.

29For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

Note"Damnation" in 1611 English meant a judicial sentence or verdict, not necessarily eternal punishment; the Greek word is krima, judgment. "The Lord's body" is simply "the body" in the oldest manuscripts, and the phrase is ambiguous: it may mean failing to recognize the bread for what it is, or failing to recognize the assembled congregation as Christ's body, an image Paul develops in the next chapter.

30This is why many among you are weak and sick, and quite a few have died.

30For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.

Note"Sleep" is the ordinary early Christian way of saying died.

31If we judged ourselves honestly, we would not be judged.

31For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

32But when we are judged, the Lord is correcting us, so that we will not be condemned along with the world.

32But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

Note"Chastened" translates paideuo, the verb for training or disciplining a child or pupil. It means corrective instruction rather than punishment for its own sake.

33So, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

33Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.

Note"Tarry one for another" means wait for each other before starting to eat. The Greek verb can also carry the sense of receiving or welcoming one another.

34If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, so that when you meet together it does not bring judgment on you. I will settle the other matters when I come.

34And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.