Head Coverings

I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions just as I handed them on to you.(A) But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man[a] is the head of the woman,[b] and God is the head of Christ.(B) Any man who prays or prophesies with something on his head shames his head,(C) but any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled shames her head—it is one and the same thing as having her head shaved. For if a woman will not veil herself, then she should cut off her hair, but if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or to be shaved, she should wear a veil. For a man ought not to have his head veiled, since he is the image and reflection[c] of God, but woman is the reflection[d] of man.(D) Indeed, man was not made from woman but woman from man.(E) Neither was man created for the sake of woman but woman for the sake of man.(F) 10 For this reason a woman ought to have authority over her head,[e] because of the angels.(G) 11 Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man or man independent of woman. 12 For just as woman came from man, so man comes through woman, but all things come from God. 13 Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head unveiled? 14 Does not nature itself teach you that, if a man wears long hair, it is dishonoring to him, 15 but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. 16 But if anyone is disposed to be contentious—we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.(H)

Abuses at the Lord’s Supper

17 Now in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. 18 For, to begin with, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it.(I) 19 Indeed, there have to be factions among you, for only so will it become clear who among you are genuine.(J) 20 When you come together, it is not really to eat the Lord’s supper. 21 For when the time comes to eat, each of you proceeds to eat your own supper, and one goes hungry and another becomes drunk. 22 What! Do you not have households to eat and drink in? Or do you show contempt for the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I commend you? In this matter I do not commend you!

The Institution of the Lord’s Supper

23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread,(K) 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for[f] you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.(L)

Partaking of the Supper Unworthily

27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord.(M) 28 Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup.(N) 29 For all who eat and drink[g] without discerning the body[h] eat and drink judgment against themselves. 30 For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.[i] 31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged.(O) 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined[j] so that we may not be condemned along with the world.(P)

33 So then, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. 34 If you are hungry, eat at home,[k] so that when you come together, it will not be for your condemnation. About the other things I will give instructions when I come.(Q)

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Footnotes

  1. 11.3 Or husband
  2. 11.3 Or wife
  3. 11.7 Or glory
  4. 11.7 Or glory
  5. 11.10 Or have freedom of choice regarding her head
  6. 11.24 Other ancient authorities read is broken for
  7. 11.29 Other ancient authorities add in an unworthy manner,
  8. 11.29 Other ancient authorities read the Lord’s body
  9. 11.30 Gk fallen asleep
  10. 11.32 Or When we are judged, we are being disciplined by the Lord
  11. 11.34 Gk in a household

Proud Edom Will Be Brought Low

The vision of Obadiah.

Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom:
We have heard a report from the Lord,
    and a messenger has been sent among the nations:
“Rise up! Let us rise against it for battle!”(A)
I will surely make you least among the nations;
    you shall be utterly despised.
Your proud heart has deceived you,
    you who live in the clefts of the rock,[a]
    whose dwelling is in the heights.
You say in your heart,
    “Who will bring me down to the ground?”(B)
Though you soar aloft like the eagle,
    though your nest is set among the stars,
    from there I will bring you down,
            says the Lord.(C)

Pillage and Slaughter Will Repay Edom’s Cruelty

If thieves came to you,
    if plunderers by night
    —how you have been destroyed!—
    would they not steal only what they wanted?
If grape gatherers came to you,
    would they not leave gleanings?(D)
How Esau has been pillaged,
    his treasures searched out!
All your allies have deceived you;
    they have driven you to the border;
your confederates have prevailed against you;
    those who ate your food have set a trap for you—
    there is no understanding.(E)
On that day, says the Lord,
    I will destroy the wise out of Edom
    and understanding out of Mount Esau.(F)
Your warriors shall be shattered, O Teman,
    so that everyone from Mount Esau will be cut off.(G)

Edom Mistreated His Brother

10 For the slaughter and violence done to your brother Jacob,
    shame shall cover you,
    and you shall be cut off forever.(H)
11 On the day that you stood aside,
    on the day that strangers carried off his wealth
and foreigners entered his gates
    and cast lots for Jerusalem,
    you, too, were one of them.(I)
12 But you should not have gloated over[b] your brother
    on the day of his misfortune;
you should not have rejoiced over the people of Judah
    on the day of their ruin;
you should not have boasted
    on the day of distress.(J)
13 You should not have entered the gate of my people
    on the day of their calamity;
you should not have joined in the gloating over Judah’s[c] disaster
    on the day of his calamity;
you should not have stolen his goods
    on the day of his calamity.(K)
14 You should not have stood at the crossings
    to cut off his fugitives;
you should not have handed over his survivors
    on the day of distress.

15 For the day of the Lord is near against all the nations.
As you have done, it shall be done to you;
    your deeds shall return on your own head.(L)
16 For as you have drunk on my holy mountain,
    all the nations shall drink continually;
they shall drink and gulp down[d]
    and shall be as though they had never been.(M)

Israel’s Final Triumph

17 But on Mount Zion there shall be those who escape,
    and it shall be holy,
and the house of Jacob shall take possession of those who dispossessed them.(N)
18 The house of Jacob shall be a fire,
    the house of Joseph a flame,
    and the house of Esau stubble;
they shall burn them and consume them,
    and there shall be no survivor of the house of Esau,
            for the Lord has spoken.(O)
19 Those of the Negeb shall possess Mount Esau,
    and those of the Shephelah the land of the Philistines;
they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria,
    and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.(P)
20 The exiles of the Israelites who are in Halah[e]
    shall possess[f] Phoenicia as far as Zarephath,
and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad
    shall possess the towns of the Negeb.(Q)
21 Those who have been saved[g] shall go up to Mount Zion
    to rule Mount Esau,
    and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.(R)

Footnotes

  1. 3 Or clefts of Sela
  2. 12 Heb on the day of
  3. 13 Heb his
  4. 16 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  5. 20 Cn: Heb in this army
  6. 20 Cn: Meaning of Heb uncertain
  7. 21 Gk Syr: Heb Saviors

Spiritual Gifts

12 Now concerning spiritual gifts,[a] brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be ignorant.(A) You know that when you were gentiles you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak.(B) Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.(C)

Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit,(D) and there are varieties of services but the same Lord,(E) and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.(F) To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,(G) to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,(H) 10 to another the working of powerful deeds, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.(I) 11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.(J)

One Body with Many Members

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.(K) 13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.(L)

14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many members yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect, 24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, 25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.(M)

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Footnotes

  1. 12.1 Or spiritual persons