What Does 1 Corinthians 11:14 Mean in the King James?
Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The word “nature” grows from a word for growing, so the verse treats the body’s visible growth as a lesson that can be read.
THE MEANING
Nature itself is pictured as a teacher, and the verse calls a man’s long hair a dishonor to him. It treats outward appearance as carrying a meaning others can recognize, and places that judgment specifically on a man wearing his hair long.
THE ROOT
φύσις
physis
GROWS FROM
φύω
phyo
to grow, bring forth
Physis names what grows and comes to be. The verse presents nature as a teacher through visible forms, including the body’s growth.
ALSO GROWS
phyo: to grow, bring forth
φύω
This is the verb beneath “nature,” linking the verse’s lesson to what visibly emerges.
phyton: a plant, something grown
φυτόν
It extends the same growth language to living forms that bring forth according to their nature.
ἀτιμία
atimia
GROWS FROM
τιμή
timē
honor, value; with the privative prefix ἀ-, lack of honor
The word rendered “shame” names dishonor or a loss of esteem. That makes the verse’s judgment a claim about how long hair is valued as a sign, rather than a word for moral failure.
ALSO GROWS
timē: honor, value
τιμή
The contrast with atimia shows that the verse is speaking in the language of honor and regard.
atimazō: to dishonor, treat as having little value
ἀτιμάζω
This related word makes the social force of “shame” visible: it marks how someone is regarded.
THE PATTERN
Scripture portrays created forms as readable witnesses, with what grows and appears carrying meaning.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:THE THREAD
But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.The next verse uses the related Greek word κόμη (komē, hair), from the same word family as κομάω (komaō, have long hair) here. It gives the sign the opposite value for a woman, making the passage’s gendered reading of hair explicit.
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