in the clearest terms, 14, 34. In here disapproving of the one, says Calvin, he does not approve of the other.
The veils worn by Grecian women were of different kinds. One, and perhaps the most common, was the peplum^ or man- tle, which in pubhc was thrown over the head, and enveloped the whole person. The other was more in the fashion of the common eastern veil which covered the face, with the excep- tion of the eyes. In one form or other, the custom was uni- versal for all respectable women to appear veiled in public. — The apostle therefore says, that a woman who speaks in pub- lic with her head uncovered^ dishonoureth her head. Here cavT^s is used, her own head ; not her husband, but herself. This is plain, not only from the force ©f the words, but from the next clause, for that is even all one as if she were shaven. This is the reason why she disgraces herself She puts her- self in the same class with women whose hair has been cut off. Cutting off the hair, which is the principal natural ornament of women, was either a sign of grief, Deut. 21, 12, or a dis- graceful punishment. The literal translation of this clause is : she is one and the same thing with one who is shaven. She assumes the characteristic mark of a disreputable woman.
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.
That is, let her act consistently. If she wishes to be re- garded as a reputable woman, let her conform to the estab- lished usage. But if she have no regard to her reputation, let her act as other women of her class. She must conform either to the reputable or disreputable class of her sex, for a departure from the one is conforming to the other. These imperatives are not to be taken as commands, but rather as expressing what consistency would require. Shorn or shaven, the latter is the stronger term ; it properly means to cut with a razor.
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.
The woman, and the woman only, ought to be veiled ; for the man ought not to cover his head. This does not mean, he