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1 Follow my example,+ just as I follow the example of the Messiah.+
“Yet I Want You to Understand...”
2 Now I want to praise you for remembering my teaching and way of life always,+ and for faithfully adhering to the body of true teaching+ precisely+ as I handed it on to you.
3 Yet I want you to understand that the Messiah is the head, indeed,+ of every man. A man+ is the head, moreover,+ of his wife,+ and the head of the Messiah is God.+
4 If+ a man prays or prophesies with a covering, then,+ hanging down from his head,+ he is bringing shame upon the Messiah,+ his head.
5 If+ any woman, however, prays or prophesies without a covering over her head, she is bringing shame upon her husband,+ her head; it is no less disgraceful than if her head were shaven.+
6 Indeed, if a woman refuses to cover her head, she might as well just have her hair cut off.+ Now if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut off or shaved, then she should wear a covering.
7 A man, you see, should not cover his head, since it is+ the image and glory of God that he reflects.+ As for the woman, it is+ the glory of the man+ that she reflects.+
8 The+ man was not made from the woman, you see, but the woman from the man;+
9 and man was not created for woman, but woman for man.+
10 That is the reason why a woman needs to have a sign of authority on her head, because of the angels.+
11 In any case, woman’s existence is intricately tied to that of man, and man’s existence is intricately tied to that of woman,+ by the design of the Lord.+
12 Just as woman, you see, was originally+ made from man, so also man comes into the world through woman.+ And all things come from God.+
13 Weigh it out for yourselves: Is it right for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered+?
14 Doesn’t the very+ order of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is for him a shame+?+
15 If a woman, however, has long hair, it is for her an honor,+ because her long hair is given to her as a covering.+
16 But if someone wants to be in regard to this matter+ contentious,+ I would simply add+ that we ourselves+ have no other practice, nor do God’s assemblies.
“It Isn’t the Lord’s Supper That You Are Eating”
17 Now in the instructions I am about to give I cannot speak in praise of you, because it is+ not for the better, but for the worse, that you meet together.
18 To begin with, I’ve received news that there are in your gatherings+ divisions,+ and to a degree I believe it
19 (since even factions are themselves+ to be expected among you, so that which ones of you are approved as genuine upon examination may become evident+).+
20 When you meet together as a group, therefore, it isn’t+ the Lord’s+ supper that you are eating.
21 Each person, you see, just goes ahead before the others arrive and starts eating his own+ supper,+ leaving one person without anything to eat, while someone else gets drunk.
22 Surely you can eat and drink in your homes,+ can’t you? Or do you against God’s assembly dare+ show contempt,+ by+ humiliating those who are in need?+ What am I supposed to say to you? Should I praise you? In this matter I do not.
23 For I received from the Lord the tradition that I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took some bread,
24 and after giving thanks, broke it and said, “This is my+ body, which is about to be offered up+ for you.+ This continue to observe in rememberance+ of me.”
25 In the same way, he also took the cup of wine+ after they had eaten and said, “This cup is the new+ covenant,+ in my blood. This continue to observe, whenever you drink it, in rememberance+ of me.”
26 Every time you eat this bread, you see, and from the cup drink,+ it is+ the Lord’s death that you are proclaiming, until he comes again.+
27 So then, if+ someone eats the bread or drinks from the cup of the Lord in a dishonorable manner, he will be guilty+ of profaning+ the body and the blood of the Lord.
28 A person must first examine himself, and only+ then eat the bread and drink from the cup.
29 If+ someone eats and drinks without careful regard for the sacredness of the Lord’s body,+ you see, it is+ punishment+ that he brings on himself as he eats and drinks.+
30 That is the reason why many of you are ailing and sick, and why a considerable number have even died.+
31 If it+ were ourselves that we were examining, however, we would not be punished.
32 Yet when we are punished+ by the Lord, we are being disciplined, so that we will not be condemned+ along with the world.+
33 So then, my brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, wait+ for one another.
34 If someone is hungry, home is the place where+ he is to eat, so that your meetings don’t result for you in punishment.+ As for the other matters, I will give instructions about them whenever I come.+