^11:13Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? ^11:14Does not nature⁵ itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace for him, ^11:15but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering.⁶^11:16If anyone intends to quarrel about this, we have no other practice, nor do the churches of God.

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Footnotes

5 Paul does not mean nature in the sense of “the natural world” or “Mother Nature.” It denotes “the way things are” because of God’s design.
6 No word for veil or head covering occurs in vv. 3–14 (see the note on authority in v. ). That the hair is regarded by Paul as a covering in v. 15 is not necessarily an argument that the hair is the same as the head covering that he is describing in the earlier verses (esp. v. 10). Throughout this unit of material, Paul points out the similarities of long hair with a head covering. But his doing so seems to suggest that the two are not to be identified with each other. Precisely because they are similar they do not appear to be identical (cf. vv. 5, 6, 7, 10, 13). If head covering = long hair, then what does v. 6 mean (“For if a woman will not cover her head, she should cut off her hair”)? This suggests that the covering is not the same as the hair itself.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her as a covering. If anyone wants to argue about this, we have no other custom, nor do the churches of God.

NLTNew Living Translation

Judge for yourselves. Is it right for a woman to pray to God in public without covering her head? Isn’t it obvious that it’s disgraceful for a man to have long hair? And isn’t long hair a woman’s pride and joy? For it has been given to her as a covering. But if anyone wants to argue about this, I simply say that we have no other custom than this, and neither do God’s other churches.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

You judge for yourselves: is it fitting for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? And does not nature itself teach you that a man, if he wears long hair, it is a dishonor to him? But a woman, if she wears long hair, it is her glory, because her hair is given for a covering. But if anyone is disposed to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.

KJV 1900King James Version

Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering. But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.

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