Can a Woman Use a Scarf, Bonnet or Hat as a Covering?
1) Direct answer
No. A scarf, bonnet, or hat is not the Scriptural covering. God gave the woman her long, uncut hair as her covering.
2) Scriptural explanation
- “If a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering” (1 Corinthians 11:15).
- “Every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head… 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” (1 Corinthians 11:5–6).
- “For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels” (1 Corinthians 11:10).
Now notice, Paul ties “uncovered” and “shorn” together. That shows he is speaking about the hair. If she’s “not covered,” he says, “let her also be shorn.” If it’s a shame to be shorn, then “let her be covered”—let it grow. And the Bible says plainly, “her hair is given her for a covering.” Not a man‑made cloth, but the God‑given sign on her head.
3) Simple clarifying logic
- If a veil or hat were the covering, a shorn woman could fix the dishonor by putting on a hat. But Paul points to the shame of being shorn and directs her to be “covered” by letting her hair be her covering.
- Nature itself makes the distinction: short hair for the man; long hair for the woman (1 Corinthians 11:14–15). That’s the sign of authority “because of the angels.”
- “Long” in Scripture means uncut—let it grow. Not a length you measure, but a submission you keep.
4) Reinforcing statement
A woman may wear a scarf or hat for modesty, weather, or culture, but it does not replace the biblical covering. Her obedience is shown by keeping her hair uncut—the covering God gave her.
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What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Faith is the substance
47-0412 §52
I can tell it's a woman. She has a woman's hat on. She has a woman's hair; it's a woman's hand. I know it's a woman, because I feel her. You think you could out argue me? ["No."] Huh? That's directly; I know it, that that was a woman. I've got my back turned to her, but yet I know it's a woman. See? Because the sense of feeling tells me there's a woman there. You see what I mean? Now, sight told me there's one there now. I don't feel her. That's the sense of sight. I know she's standing there, because I'm looking a...
Jehovah-Jireh, part 2
62-0706 §9
Never, in six thousand years, has it ever been that women ever desired to cut their hair, dress like men, be perverted. We're at the end time. And America, anyone who knows prophecy, knows that America is represented by a woman. This is called "woman's freedom." Freedom for what? To do as she pleases---sin. A woman cannot do what she wants to do. The Bible says not. A woman is a by-product of a man. She's not even in the original creation. That's exactly right. She was took from a man. Man was both feminish and mas...
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64-0823M §97
QUESTION: Brother Branham, does this I Timothy 2:9 mean a woman cannot braid her hair? Does "broid" hair mean "braided" hair? Now look, Sister, now this... I'm glad that followed this. I never fixed it there, but it just ... it followed that good. Notice, a braided hair in that day was the sign of a street woman; that's what she done, braided her hair. And Paul said to the Christians, "Now, that adorning, not let it be of a braided..." (or 'broided' and 'braid' is the same thing)--- to braid their hair, because it...
Questions and Answers on Hebrews, part 3
57-1006 §76
Now we're getting right down to the question you're asking, see. All right, now it is wrong for a lady to cut her hair, according to the Bible. Now you listen right here and see if the Bible don't give a man a legal right to put away his wife if she cuts her hair; see if this is right or not. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head [that's, have long hair], forsomuch as he is in the image and the glory of God: but the woman is in the glory of the man. [Did you ever think of that?] Now I want to stop here, beca...
A Greater than Solomon is here
58-0625 §8
And so, I went, told the old deacon of the church, I said, "Go, get my hat, Uncle Jim, will you?" We didn't have a collection plate or nothing, never had one in the church. I said, "Go get my hat; I'm going to take an offering." I said, "Folks, I'm at a little hard place, if you've got a few cents that you'd throw into the collection plate, I've got an obligation of about five dollars, and I can't make it." I said, "If you'd help me, I'd appreciate it." And Uncle Jim went to get my hat. There was a little old woman...