Psalm 38

A song of David for remembering.

33 Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming, and 400 men were with him. Jacob quickly divided the children among Leah and Rachel and their two servants. ² He put the female servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. ³ He himself went on ahead of them, and he bowed to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. ⁴ But Esau ran to meet him. He embraced Jacob, kissed his neck, and they both cried. ⁵ Esau looked up and saw the women and children.

⁶ Then the female servants came closer, along with their children, and they bowed down. ⁷ Leah did likewise; she and her children approached and bowed down. Finally Joseph and Rachel came forward, and they bowed down as well.

Jacob kept insisting that Esau accept the gift. Finally he did.

¹⁶ Esau agreed and set out that day to go back to Seir. ¹⁷ But Jacob journeyed instead to Succoth, and he built himself a house there and put up some shelters for his cattle. That’s why this place is called Succoth, which means “shelters.”

² I must say how pleased I am to hear that you remember me in everything and continue to hold on to the traditions I have passed on to you. ³ But it is important that you understand this about headship: the Anointed One is the head of every man, the husband is the head of his wife, and God is the head of the Anointed. ⁴ Knowing this, any man wearing a covering over his head while praying or prophesying in your gathering disgraces his head, Jesus. ^5-6 On the other hand, any woman—I mean, of course, a married woman—not wearing a veil over her head while praying or prophesying disgraces her head, her husband. It wouldn’t be much different than if she walked into worship with her head shaved. For if a woman isn’t going to be veiled properly, she ought to go ahead and cut off her hair; but if it brings shame to the woman and her husband to have all her hair cut off or her head shaved clean, then by all means let her wear a veil.

⁷ Here’s the distinction: man is created in God’s image and for His glory, so he should not cover his head. But a wife is the glory of her husband. She ought to be covered. ⁸ Man, you remember, was not fashioned from the body of a woman. But woman, though she was sculpted by the hands of God, was fashioned from the bones and flesh of man.^{[a] 9} Furthermore, don’t forget that man was not created for woman; woman was created for man to be his helper in everything. ¹⁰ This means that a wife should wear a veil on her head as a sign she is under authority, especially when gathering in the company of heavenly messengers. ¹¹ Regardless of how it all began, husbands and wives should recognize they are not independent; ¹² for just as woman was pulled from the side of man, man is pulled from the womb of woman. In a similar way, all things and all people share the same ultimate source, God.

¹³ Judge for yourselves: when you gather to worship, is it appropriate for a woman to pray to God without covering her head? ¹⁴ Consider the ways of nature: doesn’t nature itself teach you that a man who wears his hair long invites shame and dishonor to cover him? ¹⁵ But doesn’t nature also teach that when a woman has long hair, it is her glory? It radiates her beauty and acts as a natural veil. ¹⁶ If you feel like debating more on this, just know that we, along with all other churches of God, have adopted the same custom.