25 million Greek speaking Christians in the world, and yet only a narrow sliver of non Greek speaking Americans in the mid 1900's figured out that the passage is about uncut hair.
Over 1,800 years of Greek translation and near universal practice, all figured out by them there Pentecostals.
The New Living Translation has a good rendering:
I Corinthians 11:4-15
4 A man dishonors his head if he covers his head while praying or prophesying. 5 But a woman dishonors her head if she prays or prophesies without a covering on her head, for this is the same as shaving her head. 6 Yes, if she refuses to wear a head covering, she should cut off all her hair! But since it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut or her head shaved, she should wear a covering.
7 A man should not wear anything on his head when worshiping, for man is made in God’s image and reflects God’s glory. And woman reflects man’s glory. 8 For the first man didn’t come from woman, but the first woman came from man. 9 And man was not made for woman, but woman was made for man. 10 For this reason, and because the angels are watching, a woman should wear a covering on her head to show she is under authority.
11 But among the Lord’s people, women are not independent of men, and men are not independent of women. 12 For although the first woman came from man, every other man was born from a woman, and everything comes from God.
13 Judge for yourselves. Is it right for a woman to pray to God in public without covering her head? 14 Isn’t it obvious that it’s disgraceful for a man to have long hair? 15 And isn’t long hair a woman’s pride and joy? For it has been given to her as a covering.
A decent paraphrase would be:
“Every man while praying or prophesying having a shawl, or head covering, hanging down over his head – dishonors his head, which is Christ. But every woman while praying or prophesying, with her head uncovered dishonors her head, her husband. For this would be one and the same thing as if she had her head shaved. For assuming that a woman’s head or hair is uncovered, let her also cut her hair close. Since it is dishonorable for a woman to be shaven or her hair cropped close, let her put a shawl over her head (or a scarf).
“For indeed a male individual is morally obligated not to cover his head in that manner, since he is so constituted as to be the derived image and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of the man. For a man is not out of the woman, as a source, but the woman is out of the man. Assuredly, the man was not created for the sake of the woman, but a woman was created for the sake of the man. On this account the woman is under moral obligation to be having a sign of authority on her head, because of the angels.
“Nevertheless, man is not complete apart from a woman in the Lord. For even as the woman came out of the man, as a source, does also the man owe his existence to the intermediate agency of the woman. But all things are out of God as a source. Come to a decision among yourselves. Is it seemly or fitting for a woman to be engaged in prayer to God, not wearing the shawl hanging down over her head? Does not the innate sense of propriety itself based upon the objective difference in the constitution of things (the difference between the male and the female) teach you that indeed if a man allows his hair to grow long it is a disgrace to him? But if a woman allows her hair to grow long it is her glory because her head of hair has been given to her for a permanent covering (answering in character to, but not a substitute for a shawl).
What most non Greek speaking people fail to see is that verses 13 through 15 are a supplemental polemic supporting his theme by example, NOT a summary statement.
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