11 ¹ Follow my example, just like I follow Christ’s.

Appropriate dress in worship

² I praise you because you remember all my instructions, and you hold on to the traditions exactly as I handed them on to you. ³ Now I want you to 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. ⁴ Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered shames his head. ⁵ Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered disgraces her head. It is the same thing as having her head shaved. ⁶ If a woman doesn’t cover her head, then she should have her hair cut off. If it is disgraceful for a woman to have short hair or to be shaved, then she should keep her head covered. ⁷ A man shouldn’t have his head covered, because he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is man’s glory. ⁸ Man didn’t have his origin from woman, but woman from man; ⁹ and man wasn’t created for the sake of the woman, but the woman for the sake of the man. ¹⁰ Because of this a woman should have authority over her head, because of the angels. ¹¹ However, woman isn’t independent from man, and man isn’t independent from woman in the Lord. ¹² As woman came from man so also man comes from woman. But everything comes from God. ¹³ Judge for yourselves: Is it appropriate for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? ¹⁴ Doesn’t nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him; ¹⁵ but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? This is because her long hair is given to her for a covering. ¹⁶ But if someone wants to argue about this, we don’t have such a custom, nor do God’s churches.

The community meal

¹⁷ Now I don’t praise you as I give the following instruction because when you meet together, it does more harm than good. ¹⁸ First of all, when you meet together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and I partly believe it. ¹⁹ It’s necessary that there are groups among you, to make it clear who is genuine. ²⁰ So when you get together in one place, it isn’t to eat the Lord’s meal. ²¹ Each of you goes ahead and eats a private meal. One person goes hungry while another is drunk. ²² Don’t you have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you look down on God’s churches and humiliate those who have nothing? What can I say to you? Will I praise you? No, I don’t praise you in this.

²³ I received a tradition from the Lord, which I also handed on to you: on the night on which he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread. ²⁴ After giving thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this to remember me.” ²⁵ He did the same thing with the cup, after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Every time you drink it, do this to remember me.” ²⁶ Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you broadcast the death of the Lord until he comes.

²⁷ This is why those who eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord inappropriately will be guilty of the Lord’s body and blood. ²⁸ Each individual should test himself or herself, and eat from the bread and drink from the cup in that way. ²⁹ Those who eat and drink without correctly understanding the body are eating and drinking their own judgment. ³⁰ Because of this, many of you are weak and sick, and quite a few have died. ³¹ But if we had judged ourselves, we wouldn’t be judged. ³² However, we are disciplined by the Lord when we are judged so that we won’t be judged and condemned along with the whole world. ³³ For these reasons, my brothers and sisters, when you get together to eat, wait for each other. ³⁴ If some of you are hungry, they should eat at home so that getting together doesn’t lead to judgment. I will give directions about the other things when I come.