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On What Scriptural Basis Is a Man Praying with a Hat on Frowned Upon If a Woman Praying with a Hat on as a Covering Is Considered Unscriptural?

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Answered by True Bible Teachings AI on 8/12/2026

1) Direct answer
It’s Scripture. A man must not pray with his head covered; a woman must be covered—but God defined her covering as her long hair, not a hat. So a man praying with a hat on dishonors his Head, and a woman using a hat as a “substitute covering” is unscriptural. Her hair is the covering God appointed.

2) Scriptural explanation
- 1 Corinthians 11:4,7: “Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head… For a man indeed ought not to cover his head; forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God.”
- 1 Corinthians 11:5–6: A woman praying or prophesying uncovered dishonors her head; if she won’t be covered, “let her also be shorn,” showing that uncoveredness and shorn/shaven go together.
- 1 Corinthians 11:13–15: “Judge in yourselves… if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her… for her hair is given her for a covering.”

3) Simple clarifying logic
- For the man: The Bible says he must not cover his head when praying. A hat on a praying man is a covered head; therefore it dishonors Christ his Head.
- For the woman: The Bible itself identifies the covering—her hair is given to her for a covering. That means:
- Long hair = covered.
- Shorn/shaven = uncovered.
- No hat can replace hair, and no hat is required to fulfill the command.
So a woman thinking a hat “makes her covered” while she cuts her hair is still uncovered by Scripture. And a woman with long hair is covered even without a hat.

4) Reinforcing statement
Now notice: it’s not about church customs but God’s order. Men pray uncovered; women are covered by the hair God gave. That keeps the headship honor exactly as the Bible sets it. Final biblical conclusion: A man should remove his hat to pray (1 Corinthians 11:4,7). A woman’s scriptural covering is her long hair (1 Corinthians 11:15); a hat does not make or replace that covering.

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.

SermonRelevance 38Broader match

Questions and Answers, Part 2

Sunday evening, the 23rd of August of 1964 at the Branham Tabernacle in Jeffersonville, Indiana, U.S.A.

64-0823E §81

QUESTION: Brother Branham, is it wrong for a woman to curl her hair? I done went through that. Sure, I don't care, just keep it long. See? I don't ... I know you're ... I don't mean that to be "jokey" with you girls, see. That's sincere. You want to know, and you're asking me. You got confidence in me or you wouldn't be asking me that. Now, I got confidence in you, sister, that what I'd tell you, I believe you'd do. I can't back that up with the Scripture. If you want... If you haven't got pretty, curly hair and yo...

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SermonRelevance 38Broader match

A True Sign that's overlooked

Sunday, the 12th of November 1961

61-1112 §116

Now, Jezebel and Ahabs... Yes, sir! Why? Why do they do it? Why does them women do ... keep their hair bobbed off, and wear make-up, and go out and put on shorts when men are coming by and things like that, their husbands do it? Because they haven't got a true prophet in their pulpit to tell them the truth. They tell them, "Well, that's no different. That's all right. You don't have to do with that." You... It is the Word of the Lord! The Bible said any woman that'll put on a garment pertains to a man is an abomina...

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SermonRelevance 38Broader match

Presuming

Wednesday, the 17th of January 1962

62-0117 §100

And you women that hasn't the common decency to let your hair grow out, like God told you to... That's right. The Bible says that a woman that will bob her hair dishonors her head, and that dishonors her husband. And you that will wear these little old garments like the rest of the world wears, the Bible says that he that ... "a woman that'll put on a garment that pertains to a man is an abomination," filthy in the sight of God. And then you claim to have the Holy Ghost? You're presuming you've got it. But when you...

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SermonRelevance 38Broader match

Presuming

Wednesday, the 17th of January 1962

62-0117 §58

Achan. Why, when he took that little wedge, and that Babylonian garment, why, he thought ... he presumed it'd never be seen. "Well, what's that? It's just a little old garment. I'll stick it under here, and probably my family will long enjoy this. I got a wedge. If we ever get into a tight place, so I got a wedge of gold. Nobody will see it. Just wrap the thing together and put it under my coat, and go on." He presumed that it was all right. Presuming. But God's commandment was, "Take nothing out of that cursed cit...

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SermonRelevance 38Broader match

But it wasn't so from the beginning

Tuesday, the 11th of April 1961

61-0411 §62

It used to be that Pentecostal women didn't do that. But I don't know what happened. It used to be wrong for Pentecostal women to bob their hair. That's right. The Bible says any woman that bobs her hair, her husband has the right to put her away, of divorce, because she is a dishonorable woman. The Bible said that. It sure did. Certainly did. Now what? There you are. What we need is gospel from the pulpits. Straighten up, all the way from the pulpit to the janitor. That's right. We need the old-fashioned St. Paul'...

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