Deuteronomy 23:17

Green's Literal Translation

There shall be no prostitute among the daughters of Israel, nor shall there be a homosexual among the sons of Israel.

Parallel Translations

English Standard Version
"None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, and none of the sons of Israel shall be a cult prostitute.

Update Bible Version
There shall be no lesbian among the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a homosexual among the sons of Israel.

English Revised Version
There shall be no harlot of the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a sodomite of the sons of Israel.

New Century Version
No Israelite man or woman must ever become a temple prostitute.

New English Translation
There must never be a sacred prostitute among the young women of Israel nor a sacred male prostitute among the young men of Israel.

Webster's Bible Translation
There shall be no harlot of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.

World English Bible
There shall be no prostitute of the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a sodomite of the sons of Israel.

Amplified Bible
"There shall be no cult prostitute among the daughters of Israel, nor shall there be a cult prostitute (a sodomite) among the sons of Israel.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Noon hoore schal be of the douytris of Israel, nether a letchour of the sones of Israel.

Young's Literal Translation
`There is not a whore among the daughters of Israel, nor is there a whoremonger among the sons of Israel;

Berean Standard Bible
No daughter or son of Israel is to be a cult prostitute.

Contemporary English Version
Moses said: People of Israel, don't any of you ever be temple prostitutes.

American Standard Version
There shall be no prostitute of the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a sodomite of the sons of Israel.

Bible in Basic English
No daughter of Israel is to let herself be used as a loose woman for a strange god, and no son of Israel is to give himself to a man.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
There shalbe no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor whore keper of the sonnes of Israel.

Complete Jewish Bible
Allow him to stay with you, in whichever place suits him best among your settlements; do not mistreat him.

Darby Translation
There shall be no prostitute amongst the daughters of Israel, nor any Sodomite amongst the sons of Israel.

Easy-to-Read Version
"An Israelite man or woman must never become a temple prostitute.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
he shall dwell with thee, in the midst of thee, in the place which he shall choose within one of thy gates, where it liketh him best; thou shalt not wrong him.

King James Version (1611)
There shalbe no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a Sodomite of the sonnes of Israel.

New Life Bible
"No daughter of Israel is to sell the use of her body in worship to a strange god. And no son of Israel is to sell the use of his body for a strange god.

New Revised Standard
None of the daughters of Israel shall be a temple prostitute; none of the sons of Israel shall be a temple prostitute.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
There shall be no female devotee of the daughters of Israel, - neither shall there be, a male devotee, of the sons of Israel.

Geneva Bible (1587)
There shalbe no whore of the daughters of Israel, neither shal there be a whore keeper of the sonnes of Israel.

George Lamsa Translation
There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, also there shall be no sodomite of the sons of Israel.

Good News Translation
"No Israelite, man or woman, is to become a temple prostitute.

Douay-Rheims Bible
There shall be no whore among the daughters of Israel, nor whoremonger among the sons of Israel.

Revised Standard Version
"There shall be no cult prostitute of the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a cult prostitute of the sons of Israel.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
There shall not be a harlot of the daughters of Israel, and there shall not be a fornicator of the sons of Israel; there shall not be an idolatress of the daughters of Israel, and there shall not be an initiated person of the sons of Israel.

Christian Standard Bible®
“No Israelite woman is to be a cult prostitute, and no Israelite man is to be a cult prostitute.

Hebrew Names Version
There shall be no prostitute of the daughters of Yisra'el, neither shall there be a sodomite of the sons of Yisra'el.

King James Version
There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.

Lexham English Bible
"No woman of Israel shall be a temple prostitute, and no man of Israel shall be a male shrine prostitute.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
There shal be no whore amonge ye doughters of Israel, nether whorekeper amonge the sonnes of Israel.

THE MESSAGE
No daughter of Israel is to become a sacred prostitute; and no son of Israel is to become a sacred prostitute. And don't bring the fee of a sacred whore or the earnings of a priest-pimp to the house of God, your God, to pay for any vow—they are both an abomination to God , your God.

New American Standard Bible
"None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, nor shall any of the sons of Israel be a cult prostitute.

New King James Version
"There shall be no ritual harlot [fn] of the daughters of Israel, or a perverted [fn] one of the sons of Israel.

New Living Translation
"No Israelite, whether man or woman, may become a temple prostitute.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, nor shall any of the sons of Israel be a cult prostitute.

Legacy Standard Bible
"None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, nor shall any of the sons of Israel be a cult prostitute.

Contextual Overview

¹⁵ You shall not hand over to his master a slave that has escaped from his master to you. ¹⁶ He shall live with you, among you, in the place which he chooses inside one of your gates, wherever it is good to him. You shall not oppress him. ¹⁷ There shall be no prostitute among the daughters of Israel, nor shall there be a homosexual among the sons of Israel. ¹⁸ You shall not bring the hire of a prostitute, or the price of a dog, into the house of Jehovah your God for any vow; for even both of these are an abomination to Jehovah your God. ¹⁹ You shall not lend at interest to your brother; interest of silver, interest of food, interest of anything loaned at interest. ²⁰ To a stranger you may lend at interest , but you shall not lend at interest to your brother, so that Jehovah your God may bless you in all that you put your hand to, in the land where you go to possess it. ²¹ When you shall vow a vow to Jehovah your God, you shall not delay to perform it; for Jehovah your God will certainly require it of you, and it shall be sin to you. ²² But if you shall forebear to vow, it shall be no sin to you. ²³ That which has gone out of your lips, you shall keep, and shall do it. According as you have vowed as a freewill offering to Jehovah your God, do even that which you have spoken with your mouth. ²⁴ When you come into your neighbor's vineyard, then you may eat grapes to your fill, at your pleasure. But you shall not put any in your vessel.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

There shall be: etc. The prohibition in the text, like many others, has no direct application to practices that were common among the Israelites at that time; but was intended to guard them against the enormities which were practised among the surrounding nations. Deuteronomy 22:21, Deuteronomy 22:29, Leviticus 19:29, Proverbs 2:16

whore: or, sodomitess, Romans 1:26

sodomite: Genesis 19:4, Genesis 19:5, Judges 19:22, 1 Kings 14:24, 1 Kings 15:12, 1 Kings 22:46, 2 Kings 23:7, Romans 1:27, Romans 1:28, 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Timothy 1:10

Reciprocal: Genesis 19:7 - General Genesis 34:7 - thing Leviticus 20:13 - General 1 Kings 3:16 - two women Job 36:14 - unclean Ezekiel 16:33 - give Ezekiel 16:50 - and committed Ephesians 5:3 - fornication

Cross-References

Genesis 23:7
And Abraham rose up and bowed himself to the people of the land, to the sons of Heth.

Genesis 23:10
And Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth. And Ephron the Hittite replied to Abraham in the ears of the sons of Heth, to all those entering the gate of his city, saying,

Genesis 23:14
And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him,

Genesis 23:20
And the field was certified, and the cave in it, to Abraham for a burial possession from the sons of Heth.

Genesis 25:9
And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him at the cave of Machpelah, at the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite which is before Mamre,

Genesis 50:13
And his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah; the field which Abraham bought for a burying place from Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.

Psalms 112:5
Good is a man showing favor and lending; he will measure his matters with equity.

Matthew 10:16
Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

Acts 7:16
And they were moved into Shechem, and were put in the tomb which Abraham bought for a price of silver from the sons of Hamor of Shechem.

Ephesians 5:15
Then watch how carefully you walk, not as unwise, but as wise ones,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel,.... The word for "whore" is "kedeshah", which properly signifies an "holy" one; and here, by an antiphrasis, an unholy, an impure person, one that is defiled by man; :-. Jarchi interprets the word, one that makes herself common, that is sanctified, or set apart; that is, one that separates herself for such service, and prostitutes herself to everyone that passes by: but some understand this not of common harlots in the streets, but of sacred whores, or such as were consecrated to Heathen deities, as such there were to Venus. Strabo x tells us that the temple of Venus at Corinth was so rich, that more than a thousand of those sacred harlots were kept, whom men and women had devoted to that goddess; and so a multitude of the same sort were at Comana, which he calls little Corinth y; now these of all harlots being the most abominable are forbidden to be among the daughters of Israel:

nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel: by the same rule that "kedeshah" is rendered "a whore" in the preceding clause, "kadesh" should be rendered "an whoremonger" here, as in the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions; though Aben Ezra interprets it passively, one that is lain with, and Jarchi one that is prepared to lie with a male, that prostitutes his body in this unnatural way; and it looks as if there were such sort of persons sacred to idols, since we read of the houses of the sodomites, which were by, or rather in the house of the Lord, 2 Kings 23:7.

x Geograph. l. 8. p. 261. y lb. l. 12. p. 385.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Compare the marginal reference. Prostitution was a common part of religious observances among idolatrous nations, especially in the worship of Ashtoreth or Astarte. Compare Micah 1:7; Baruch 6:43.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Deuteronomy 23:17. There shall be no whore — See on Genesis 38:15-21.