1 Corinthians 11 | |
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Book | First Epistle to the Corinthians |
Category | Pauline epistles |
Christian Bible part | New Testament |
Order in the Christian part | 7 |
1 Corinthians 11 is the eleventh chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It was authored by Paul the Apostle and Sosthenes in Ephesus. In this chapter, Paul writes on the conduct of Christians while worshiping together and enjoins the ordinances of headcovering and the Eucharist. [1]
The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 34 verses.
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:
Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.
— 1 Corinthians 11:1, New King James Version [2]
Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.
— 1 Corinthians 11:1, King James Version [3]
Theologian John Gill suggests that these words "more properly close the preceding chapter, than begin a new one", and many commentators agree. [4] Paul concludes his argument in 1 Corinthians 4 in a similar way: "Therefore I urge you, imitate me." [5] The Pulpit Commentary restricts Paul's call to imitation: "I only ask you to imitate me in points in which I imitate Christ". [6]
According to Gill, these words refer to the rules which Paul would have the Corinthians follow him in, as he did Christ: to do all things to the glory of God, and not for his own gain, just as Christ, who does not seek his own glory, but the glory of God who sent him, so all what they did would be in the name of Christ, and to the glory of God. [7] [ unreliable source? ]
In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul enjoins the observance of certain ordinances, including the headcovering and the Eucharist. [1] The passage delivers the teaching that men are to "pray or prophesy" without a cap on the head, while women are to are wear a veil; the practice of headcovering by Christian women was countercultural as the surrounding pagan Greek women prayed unveiled and Jewish men prayed with their heads covered. [8] [9]
Ezra Palmer Gould, a professor at the Episcopal Divinity School, noted Paul's use of rhetoric to highlight the importance of the subject: "The long hair and the veil were both intended as a covering of the head, and as a sign of true womanliness, and of the right relation of woman to man; and hence the absence of one had the same significance as that of the other." [10] [11] This is reflected in the patristic homilies of the Early Church Father John Chrysostom, who explained the two coverings—the veil and the natural hair—discussed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 11: [12]
For he said not merely covered, but covered over, meaning that she be with all care sheltered from view on every side. And by reducing it to an absurdity, he appeals to their shame, saying by way of severe reprimand, but if she be not covered, let her also be shorn. As if he had said, "If thou cast away the covering appointed by the law of God, cast away likewise that appointed by nature." [12]
Michael Marlowe, a scholar of biblical languages, explicates this reductio ad absurdum that Paul the Apostle used in verse 14 and verse 15, in which he relates the propriety of a woman's natural hair to the necessity of a cloth headcovering: [13]
In the appeal to "nature" (φύσις) here Paul makes contact with another philosophy of ancient times, known as Stoicism. The Stoics believed that intelligent men could discern what is best in life by examining the laws of nature, without relying on the changeable customs and divers laws made by human rulers. If we consult Nature, we find that it constantly puts visible differences between the male and the female of every species, and it also gives us certain natural inclinations when judging what is proper to each sex. So Paul uses an analogy, comparing the woman's headcovering to her long hair, which is thought to be more natural for a woman. Though long hair on men is possible, and in some cultures it has been customary for men to have long hair, it is justly regarded as effeminate. It requires much grooming, it interferes with vigorous physical work, and a man with long hair is likely to be seized by it in a fight. It is therefore unmanly by nature. But a woman's long hair is her glory. Here again is the word δόξα, used opposite ἀτιμία "disgrace," in the sense of "something bringing honor." Long and well-kept hair brings praise to a woman because it contributes to her feminine beauty. The headcovering, which covers the head like a woman's hair, may be seen in the same way. Our natural sense of propriety regarding the hair may therefore be carried over to the headcovering. [13]
This ordinance continued to be handed down after the apostolic era to the next generations of Christians; writing 150 years after Paul, the early Christian apologist Tertullian stated that the women of the church in Corinth—both virgins and married—practiced veiling, given that Paul the Apostle delivered the teaching to them: "the Corinthians themselves understood him in this manner. In fact, at this very day, the Corinthians do veil their virgins. What the apostles taught, their disciples approve." [14]
From the period of the early Church to the late modern period, 1 Corinthians 11 was universally understood to enjoin the wearing of the headcovering throughout the day—a practice that has since waned in Western Europe but has continued in certain parts of the world, such as in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Northern Africa and the Indian subcontinent, [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] as well as everywhere by Conservative Anabaptists (such as the Conservative Mennonite Churches and the Dunkard Brethren Church), who count veiling as being one of the ordinances of the Church. [21] [22] The early Church Father John Chrysostom explicates that 1 Corinthians 11 enjoins the continual wearing the headcovering by referencing Paul the Apostle's view that being shaven is always dishonourable and his pointing to the angels: [23]
Well then: the man he compelleth not to be always uncovered, but only when he prays. "For every man," saith he, "praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head." But the woman he commands to be at all times covered. Wherefore also having said, "Every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head unveiled, dishonoureth her head," he stayed not at this point only, but also proceeded to say, "for it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven." But if to be shaven is always dishonourable, it is plain too that being uncovered is always a reproach. And not even with this only was he content, but he added again, saying, "The woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head, because of the angels." He signifies that not at the time of prayer only but also continually, she ought to be covered. But with regard to the man, it is no longer about covering but about wearing long hair, that he so forms his discourse. To be covered he then only forbids, when a man is praying; but the wearing of long hair he discourages at all times. [23]
Verse 10, in many early biblical manuscripts (such as certain vg, copbo, and arm), is rendered with the word "veil" (κάλυμμα, kalumma) rather than the word "authority" (ἐξουσία, exousia); the Revised Standard Version reflects this, displaying 1 Corinthians 11:10 [24] as follows: "That is why a woman ought to have a veil on her head, because of the angels." [25] Similarly, a scholarly footnote in the New American Bible notes that presence of the word "authority (exousia) may possibly be due to mistranslation of an Aramaic word for veil". [26] This mistranslation may be due to "the fact that in Aramaic the roots of the word power and veil are spelled the same." [27] The last-known living connection to the apostles, Irenaeus, penned verse 10 using the word "veil" (κάλυμμα, kalumma) instead of "authority" (ἐξουσία, exousia) in Against Heresies , as did other Church Fathers in their writings, including Hippolytus, Origen, Chrysostom, Jerome, Epiphanius, Augustine, and Bede. [25] [28]
After the 1960s, the practice of headcovering started to wane in the Western World, giving rise to an interpretation of 1 Corinthians 11 by Abel Isaakson that a woman's natural long hair is the sole covering being discussed in the passage. [29] [30] [31] Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) John W. Keddie contended that verse 6, if a covering was simply any sort of hair, would then read "For if the women have no hair on her head, let her also be shorn", rendering the passage to be nonsensical. [10] [32] Michael Marlowe, a scholar of the Greek language, states that the novel view of labelling the hair as the sole covering in 1 Corinthians 11 is "indefensible" and suggests that it is an attempt "harmonize this passage with modern habits of dress". [33]
Additionally, verses five through seven, as well as verse thirteen, of 1 Corinthians 11 use a form of the Greek word for "veiled"/"covered", κατακαλύπτω, katakalupto; this is contrasted with the Greek word περιβόλαιον, peribolaion, which is mentioned in verse 15 of the same chapter, in reference to "something cast around"/"a covering". [34] [35] [10] [30] [36] Verse four of 1 Corinthians 11 uses the Greek words kata kephalēs (κατάIn κεφαλῆς) for "head covered", the same Greek words used in Esther 6:12 in the Septuagint [37] where "because he [Haman] had been humiliated, he headed home, draping an external covering over his head" (additionally certain manuscripts of the Septuagint in Esther 6:12 use the Greek words κατακεκαλυμμένος κεφαλήν, which is the "perfect passive participle of the key verb used in 1 Corinthians 11:6 and 7 for both a man's and a woman's covering his or her head [κατακαλύπτω]")—facts that New Testament scholar Rajesh Gandhi uses to conclude that the passage enjoins the wearing of a cloth veil by Christian women. [38] Biblical scholar Christopher R. Hutson contextualizes the verse citing Greek texts of the same era, such as Moralia : [39]
Plutarch's phrase, "covering his head" is literally "having down from the head" (kata tes kephales echon). This is the same phrase Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 11:4. It refers to the Roman practice of pulling one's toga up over the head like a hood. […] Romans also wore their togas "down from the head" when they offered sacrifices. This is the practice to which Paul refers. [39]
In the same manner as Paul the Apostle, Philo (30 BC–45 AD) in Special Laws 3:60, uses "head uncovered" (akatakalyptō tē kephalē, ἀκατακαλύπτῳ τῇ κεφαλῇ) and "it is clear that Philo is speaking of a head covering being removed because the priest had just removed her kerchief"; additionally, akatakalyptos (ἀκατακάλυπτος) likewise "means 'uncovered' in Philo, Allegorical Interpretation II,29, and in Polybius 15,27.2 (second century BC)." [40] In 1 Corinthians 11:16, [41] Paul concludes the teaching about the ordinance of Christian headcovering: "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." [13] Michael Marlowe, a scholar of biblical languages, states that Paul's inclusion of this statement was to affirm that the "headcovering practice is a matter of apostolic authority and tradition, and not open to debate", evidenced by repeating a similar sentence with which he starts the passage: "maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you". [13]
In verses 17 through 33, Paul chastises the Corinthians for their behaviour when they come together "as a church" (literally ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ, en ekklēsia, "in church" or "in the assembly") [42] to share what appears to be an agape feast. [43]
Paul describes his understanding of Jesus' actions at the Last Supper as having been "received from the Lord" (1 Corinthians 11:23), not received from the apostles who were present or from the tradition of the church. Teignmouth Shore argues that "the whole structure of the passage seems to imply that what follows had been received by St. Paul directly from Christ" [44] but Heinrich Meyer argues, with reference to Paul's use of the words ἀπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου, apo tou kuriou, 'forth from the Lord' rather than παρά τοῦ Κυρίου, para tou kuriou, 'coming from the Lord', that "we are warranted in assuming that he means a reception, which issued indeed from Christ as originator, but reached him only mediately through another channel". [45]
Meyer notes the close similarity between Paul's account of the Last Supper and Luke's in Luke 22:19–20. [46]
The First Epistle to the Corinthians is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church in Corinth. Despite the name, it is not believed to be the first such letter. Scholars believe that Sosthenes was the amanuensis who wrote down the text of the letter at Paul's direction. It addresses various issues that had arisen in the Christian community at Corinth and is composed in a form of Koine Greek.
In modern usage, hijab generally refers to various head coverings conventionally worn by many Muslim women. It is similar to the tichel or snood worn by Orthodox Jewish women, certain headcoverings worn by some Christian women, such as the mantilla, apostolnik and wimple, and the dupatta worn by many Hindu and Sikh women. Whilst a hijab can come in many forms, it often specifically refers to a scarf wrapped around the head, covering the hair, neck and ears but leaving the face visible. The use of the hijab has been on the rise worldwide since the 1970s and is viewed by many Muslims as expressing modesty and faith; it has also been worn for purposes of adornment. When it comes to the obligation for a Muslim woman to cover her hair and body, many have expressed confusion about the origin of this commandment. However, there has never been any debate within Sunni Islamic scholarship at any point in history regarding the obligation of hijab for all Muslim women who have reached the age of puberty.
A veil is an article of clothing or hanging cloth that is intended to cover some part of the head or face, or an object of some significance. Veiling has a long history in European, Asian, and African societies. The practice has been prominent in different forms in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The practice of veiling is especially associated with women and sacred objects, though in some cultures, it is men, rather than women, who are expected to wear a veil. Besides its enduring religious significance, veiling continues to play a role in some modern secular contexts, such as wedding customs.
Modesty, sometimes known as demureness, is a mode of dress and deportment which intends to avoid the encouraging of sexual attraction in others. The word modesty comes from the Latin word modestus which means 'keeping within measure'.
A headscarf is a scarf covering most or all of the top of a person's, usually women's, hair and head, leaving the face uncovered. A headscarf is formed of a triangular cloth or a square cloth folded into a triangle, with which the head is covered.
A mantilla is a traditional female liturgical lace or silk veil or shawl worn over the head and shoulders, often over a high hair ornament called a peineta, particularly popular with women in Spain and Latin America. It is also worn by Catholic and Plymouth Brethren women around the world, Mennonite women in Argentina, and without the peineta by Eastern Orthodox women in Russia. When worn by Eastern Orthodox women the mantilla is often white, and is worn with the ends crossed over the neck and draped over the opposite shoulder. The mantilla is worn as a Christian headcovering by women during church services, as well as during special occasions. A smaller version of the mantilla is called a toquilla.
A head tie, also known as a headwrap, is a women's cloth head scarf that is commonly worn in many parts of West Africa and Southern Africa. The head tie is used as an ornamental head covering or fashion accessory, or for functionality in different settings. Its use or meaning can vary depending on the country and/or religion of those who wear it. Among Jewish women, the Biblical source for covering hair comes from the Torah in the book of Bamidbar Parshas Nasso which contains the source for the obligation of a married woman to cover her hair. An eesha sotah is a woman whose husband suspects her of having acted immorally. The Torah commands the Kohein to take various steps to demonstrate that the sotah has deviated from the modest and loyal path of most married Jewish women. Among the procedures, the pasuk clearly states: "ufora es rosh haisha..."and he shall uncover the hair of the head of the woman (5:18). One can only uncover something that has previously been covered; in this case the Torah is referring to the married woman's hair. Among Christian women in certain parts of the world, such as Africa and the Caribbean, the head tie is worn as a headcovering in obedience to 1 Corinthians 11:4–13.
Outward holiness, or external holiness, is a Wesleyan–Arminian doctrine emphasizing modest dress and sober speech. It is a testimony of a Christian believer's regeneration, done in obedience to God. The doctrine is prevalent among denominations emerging during the revival movements, including the Methodists, as well as Pentecostals. It is taken from 1 Peter 1:15: "He which hath called you is Holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation."
According to halacha, married Jewish women are expected to cover their hair when in the presence of men other than their husband or close family members. Such covering is common practice nowadays among Orthodox Jewish women.
Christian head covering, also known as Christian veiling, is the traditional practice of women covering their head in a variety of Christian denominations. Some Christian women wear the head covering in public worship and during private prayer at home, while others believe women should wear head coverings at all times. Among Oriental and Eastern Orthodox Churches, certain theologians likewise teach that it is "expected of all women to be covered not only during liturgical periods of prayer, but at all times, for this was their honor and sign of authority given by our Lord", while others have held that headcovering should at least be done during prayer and worship. Genesis 24:65 records the veil as a feminine emblem of modesty. Manuals of early Christianity, including the Didascalia Apostolorum and Pædagogus, instructed that a headcovering must be worn by women during prayer and worship as well as when outside the home. When Saint Paul commanded women to be veiled in 1 Corinthians, the surrounding pagan Greek women did not wear headcoverings; as such, the practice of Christian headcovering was countercultural in the Apostolic Era, being a biblical ordinance rather than a cultural tradition. The style of headcovering varies by region, though Apostolic Tradition specifies an "opaque cloth, not with a veil of thin linen".
Many Christians have followed certain dress codes during attendance at church. Customs have varied over time and among different Christian denominations. As with the Bible, the Church Fathers of Christianity taught modesty as a core principle guiding the clothing that Christians are to manufacture and wear.
Western dress codes are a set of dress codes detailing what clothes are worn for what occasion. Conversely, since most cultures have intuitively applied some level equivalent to the more formal Western dress code traditions, these dress codes are simply a versatile framework, open to amalgamation of international and local customs. This versatility has made this scale of formality a practical international formality scale.
Plain dress is a practice among some religious groups, primarily some Christian churches in which people dress in clothes of traditional modest design, sturdy fabric, and conservative cut. It is intended to show acceptance of traditional gender roles, modesty, and readiness to work and serve, and to preserve communal identity and separation from the ever-changing fashions of the world. For men, this often takes the form of trousers secured by suspenders, while for women, plain dress usually takes the form of a cape dress along with a headcovering.
Federal headship, also known as spiritual headship or simply headship refers to a concept taught in Christian theology, with respect to God, Jesus, man, and woman. It has historically been externally reflected through the Christian practice of headcovering.
The relationship between Paul the Apostle and women is an important element in the theological debate about Christianity and women because Paul was the first writer to give ecclesiastical directives about the role of women in the Church. However, there are arguments that some of these writings are post-Pauline interpolations.
Headgear, headwear, or headdress is any element of clothing which is worn on one's head, including hats, helmets, turbans and many other types. Headgear is worn for many purposes, including protection against the elements, decoration, or for religious or cultural reasons, including social conventions.
Kyrios or kurios is a Greek word that is usually translated as "lord" or "master". It is used in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew scriptures about 7000 times, in particular translating the name YHWH, and it appears in the Koine Greek New Testament about 740 times, usually referring to Jesus.
A church crown, also known as a church hat, is a decorative hat worn by women in the Southern United States as a headcovering during Christian church services in accordance with 1 Corinthians 11:2–13. Though church crowns were common among all American women until the mid-20th century, they continue to be worn in certain denominations that teach the historic practice of Christian headcovering, such as the Free Presbyterian Church and Plymouth Brethren, as well as in the black church. The practice of women wearing a headcovering, found in the Bible, "has been adapted and expanded to become a stylish part of Southern women’s churchgoing attire."
A kapp is a Christian headcovering worn by many women of certain Anabaptist Christian denominations, as well as certain Conservative Friends and Plain Catholics, in obedience to Paul the Apostle's command in 1 Corinthians 11:2–10.
A hanging veil, also known as a flowing veil or charity veil, is a type of Christian headcovering, which is worn by some Christian women continually, in obedience to Paul the Apostle's command in 1 Corinthians 11:2–10. Hanging veils enjoy popularity in a diverse array of Christian denominations, especially those of the Anabaptist Christian tradition. In certain Conservative Mennonite Anabaptist congregationations of the Beachy Amish Mennonite tradition, an opaque hanging veil is permitted as an alternative to the kapp if it covers as much or more hair as the kapp, which traditionally is "of ample size to cover most of the hair". Opaque hanging veils are usually white or black in colour for modesty. Hanging veils are designed to drape over the natural curves of a woman's head and hang down a woman's neck. Certain denominations of Christianity provide guidelines regarding the headcovering; the Ministry Training Center of the Biblical Mennonite Alliance, for example, teaches:
A veiling shall be worn by the sisters. We believe the best application of the headship principle as taught in I Corinthians 11 is for the veiling to be worn as a part of their regular attire to cover hair that is allowed to grow to its natural length. Ladies shall wear all their hair neatly up, avoiding fashion extremes, covered with a hanging veil, scarf, or traditional Mennonite covering of sufficient size to substantially cover the hair. Hanging veils and scarves must cover at least from the crown of the head to the bottom of the hair bun.
Furthermore, Greek women, including women in prayer, were usually depicted without a garment covering the head. It does not make sense that Paul would assert something was disgraceful that in their culture was not considered disgraceful. Concerning Greek customs A. Oepke observes: […] It is quite wrong [to assert] that Greek women were under some kind of compulsion to wear a veil. […] Passages to the contrary are so numerous and unequivocally that they cannot be offset. […] Empresses and goddesses, even those who maintain their dignity, like Hera and Demeter, are portrayed without veils.
The [male] Jews of this era worshipped and prayed with a covering called a tallith on their heads.
Nature itself is therefore a divine confirmation of the constitutional sense of the impropriety of women appearing in the assembly without a head covering (v. 13). The words "for her long hair is given to her as a covering" (v. 15) "do not mean that the woman's hair is her covering and that she needs no veil, a view vitiating the force of 11:2-14." For example, if hair were the only covering referred to in this passage (11:1-16), then verse 6 would have to be translated "If a woman does not wear her hair, she should have to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should wear her hair," which is quite ludicrous. Two coverings are spoken of in the passage. This is established by the fact that two different Greek words …
16But if anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God. He thus brings the matter to a conclusion. In addition to the theological and moral reasons for the headcovering, there is also the fact that if the Corinthians were to allow their women to remove the headcovering, this new practice or custom (συνήθειαν) would go against the established custom of Paul and his fellow-workers, the custom which was observed in all the other churches, and which he has delivered to them as one of the παραδόσεις "traditional practices" of the faith (verse 2) […] Paul has devoted some time to this subject because it is important to him, not a matter of indifference; and it makes little sense to speak of a custom of being contentious (φιλόνεικος, lit. "loving strife"), because contentiousness is an attitude or temper, not a custom. There is a good parallel to Paul's usage of the word φιλόνεικος in Josephus' work Against Apion. Josephus concludes a series of arguments with the sentence, "I suppose that what I have already said may be sufficient to such as are not very contentious (φιλόνεικος)," (19) and then he continues with even stronger arguments for those who are very contentious. In the same way, Paul reserves the clinching argument for the end. It is an argument from authority. The headcovering practice is a matter of apostolic authority and tradition, and not open to debate. His concluding rebuke of the contentious people in Corinth is meant to cut off debate and settle the issue, not to leave it open. It is quite wrong to say of this last argument of Paul's that "in the end he admits" that he was merely "rationalizing the customs in which he believes," (20) as if Paul himself put little store by custom. Rather, Paul considers this to be his strongest point. At the end he harks back to the words with which he opened the subject ("maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you" in verse 2), and the whole section is thus framed between explicit invocations of tradition.
Today many people associate rules about veiling and headscarves with the Muslim world, but in the eighteenth century they were common among Christians as well, in line with 1 Corinthians 11:4-13 which appears not only to prescribe headcoverings for any women who prays or goes to church, but explicitly to associate it with female subordination, which Islamic veiling traditions do not typically do. Many Christian women wore a head-covering all the time, and certainly when they went outside; those who did not would have been barred from church and likely harassed on the street. […] Veils were, of course, required for Catholic nuns, and a veil that actually obscured the face was also a mark of elite status throughout most of Europe. Spanish noblewomen wore them well into the eighteenth century, and so did Venetian women, both elites and non-elites. Across Europe almost any woman who could afford them also wore them to travel.
Head covers are generally associated with Islam, but until recently Christian women in Mediterranean countries also covered their heads in public, and some still do, particularly in religious contexts such as attending mass.
Inside her house a Christian woman usually did not cover hear head and only wore a netsela (ነጠላ, a shawl made from white, usually homespun cotton and often with a colorful banner woven into its edges) when working in the sun or going out of her compound.
As a mark of respect, Indian women were expected to cover their heads. And over the years, most rural Hindu, Muslim and Christian women have done so with the Orhni, a thin shawl-like head covering.
Further north, in Vojvodina, some older Slovak women still regularly wear the headscarf, pleated skirt and embroidered apron that is their national dress. All across Serbia, as elsewhere in eastern Europe, many older women wear headscarves
There are Christian women in the Middle East who cover their hair and heads daily. Some wear burkas too.
...that the word translated in verses 5 and 13 as "uncovered" is akatakaluptos and means "unveiled" and the word translated in verse 6 as "covered" is katakalupto which means to "cover wholly, [or] veil." The word power in verse 10 may have also been mistranslated because the fact that in Aramaic the roots of the word power and veil are spelled the same.
… one of the popular understandings today of 1 Corinthians 11 is that this was simply a first century cultural problem. Paul gave his instruction about the head covering because prostitutes didn't wear headcoverings, and if the Christian women weren't veiled, they would be thought of as prostitutes. […] Yet, it is not based on any historical evidence whatsoever from the writings of the early Church. It is someone's sheer conjecture.
The argument is also raised that the hair is sufficient for the covering. Paul says in verse 15 that "her hair is given her for a covering." Let us not suppose, however, that with a single sentence Paul is canceling out everything he has so clearly stated prior to it. The Greek word for covering in verse 15 is peribolaion, not katakalupto as used before for the veiling. In other words the hair is a type of covering, but the veiling used in the previous verses is to wholly cover the head and hair.
Esther 6 records the dramatic reversal that resulted in Haman's humiliation. Hearing the king speak of one whom he desired to honor, he thought that surely the king intended to honor him (6:6). To his great chagrin, he learned that the king ordained that Haman himself was to honor Mordecai, whom he greatly despised (6:10). After he had fulfilled the king's directives to honor Mordecai publicly (6:11), "Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered" (6:12). Plainly, this text is not declaring that he went to his home having hair on his head. Nor is it asserting either that he had long hair on his head as he went home or that he somehow miraculously grew his hair long. Rather, this verse records that because he had been humiliated, he headed home, draping an external covering over his head. Furthermore, the LXX rendering of the verse reads as follows: BGT Esther 6:12 ¶ ἐπέστρεψεν δὲ ὁ Μαρδοχαῖος εἰς τὴν αὐλήν Αμαν δὲ ὑπέστρεψεν εἰς τὰ ἴδια λυπούμενος κατὰ κεφαλῆς LXE Esther 6:12 And Mardochaeus returned to the palace: but Aman went home mourning, and having his head covered. … The exact phrase κατὰ κεφαλῆς found here occurs in only one other passage in the Bible in Greek: BGT 1 Corinthians 11:4 πᾶς ἀνὴρ προσευχόμενος ἢ προφητεύων κατὰ κεφαλῆς ἔχων καταισχύνει τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ. SCR 1 Corinthians 11:4 πᾶς ἀνὴρ προσευχόμενος ἢ προφητεύων, κατὰ κεφαλῆς ἔχων καταισχύνει τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ. KJV 1 Corinthians 11:4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. … Moreover, Hatch and Redpath (κατακαλύπτειν, 733) report that another hand of the Septuagint for Esther 6:12 reads, κατακεκαλυμμένος κεφαλήν. This variant reading has the perfect passive participle of the key verb used in 1 Corinthians 11:6 and 7 for both a man's and a woman's covering his or her head (κατακαλύπτω): BGT 1 Corinthians 11:6 εἰ γὰρ οὐ κατακαλύπτεται γυνή, καὶ κειράσθω• εἰ δὲ αἰσχρὸν γυναικὶ τὸ κείρασθαι ἢ ξυρᾶσθαι, κατακαλυπτέσθω. SCR 1 Corinthians 11:6 εἰ γὰρ οὐ κατακαλύπτεται γυνή, καὶ κειράσθω• εἰ δὲ αἰσχρὸν γυναικὶ τὸ κείρασθαι ἢ ξυρᾶσθαι, κατακαλυπτέσθω. KJV 1 Corinthians 11:6 For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. NAU 1 Corinthians 11:6 For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut off; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, let her cover her head. BGT 1 Corinthians 11:7 Ἀνὴρ μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ὀφείλει κατακαλύπτεσθαι τὴν κεφαλὴν εἰκὼν καὶ δόξα θεοῦ ὑπάρχων• ἡ γυνὴ δὲ δόξα ἀνδρός ἐστιν. SCR 1 Corinthians 11:7 ἀνὴρ μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ὀφείλει κατακαλύπτεσθαι τὴν κεφαλήν, εἰκὼν καὶ δόξα Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων• γυνὴ δὲ δόξα ἀνδρός ἐστιν. KJV 1 Corinthians 11:7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. … This evidence from the LXX therefore supports holding that the covering in view in 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 is an external head covering for both a man and a woman.