Deuteronomy 23:17

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.

Parallel Translations

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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;

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

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 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.

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.

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.

Contextual Overview

¹⁵Don't return a runaway slave to his master; he's come to you for refuge. Let him live wherever he wishes within the protective gates of your city. Don't take advantage of him. ¹⁷No 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. ¹⁹Don't charge interest to your kinsmen on any loan: not for money or food or clothing or anything else that could earn interest. You may charge foreigners interest, but you may not charge your brothers interest; that way God , your God, will bless all the work that you take up and the land that you are entering to possess. ²¹When you make a vow to God , your God, don't put off keeping it; God , your God, expects you to keep it and if you don't you're guilty. But if you don't make a vow in the first place, there's no sin. If you say you're going to do something, do it. Keep the vow you willingly vowed to God , your God. You promised it, so do it. ²⁴When you enter your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat all the grapes you want until you're full, but you may not put any in your bucket or bag. And when you walk through the ripe grain of your neighbor, you may pick the heads of grain, but you may not swing your sickle there.

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
Then Abraham got up, bowed respectfully to the people of the land, the Hittites, and said, "If you're serious about helping me give my wife a proper burial, intercede for me with Ephron son of Zohar. Ask him to sell me the cave of Machpelah that he owns, the one at the end of his land. Ask him to sell it to me at its full price for a burial plot, with you as witnesses."

Genesis 23:10
Ephron was part of the local Hittite community. Then Ephron the Hittite spoke up, answering Abraham with all the Hittites who were part of the town council listening: "Oh no, my master! I couldn't do that. The field is yours—a gift. I'll give it and the cave to you. With my people as witnesses, I give it to you. Bury your deceased wife."

Genesis 23:14
Then Ephron answered Abraham, "If you insist, master. What's four hundred silver shekels between us? Now go ahead and bury your wife."

Matthew 10:16
"Stay alert. This is hazardous work I'm assigning you. You're going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don't call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.

Acts 7:16
Stephen, Full of the Holy Spirit Then the Chief Priest said, "What do you have to say for yourself?" Stephen replied, "Friends, fathers, and brothers, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was still in Mesopotamia, before the move to Haran, and told him, ‘Leave your country and family and go to the land I'll show you.' "So he left the country of the Chaldees and moved to Haran. After the death of his father, he immigrated to this country where you now live, but God gave him nothing, not so much as a foothold. He did promise to give the country to him and his son later on, even though Abraham had no son at the time. God let him know that his offspring would move to an alien country where they would be enslaved and brutalized for four hundred years. ‘But,' God said, ‘I will step in and take care of those slaveholders and bring my people out so they can worship me in this place.' "Then he made a covenant with him and signed it in Abraham's flesh by circumcision. When Abraham had his son Isaac, within eight days he reproduced the sign of circumcision in him. Isaac became father of Jacob, and Jacob father of twelve ‘fathers,' each faithfully passing on the covenant sign. "But then those ‘fathers,' burning up with jealousy, sent Joseph off to Egypt as a slave. God was right there with him, though—he not only rescued him from all his troubles but brought him to the attention of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He was so impressed with Joseph that he put him in charge of the whole country, including his own personal affairs. "Later a famine descended on that entire region, stretching from Egypt to Canaan, bringing terrific hardship. Our hungry fathers looked high and low for food, but the cupboard was bare. Jacob heard there was food in Egypt and sent our fathers to scout it out. Having confirmed the report, they went back to Egypt a second time to get food. On that visit, Joseph revealed his true identity to his brothers and introduced the Jacob family to Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and everyone else in the family, seventy-five in all. That's how the Jacob family got to Egypt. "Jacob died, and our fathers after him. They were taken to Shechem and buried in the tomb for which Abraham paid a good price to the sons of Hamor.

Colossians 4:5
Use your heads as you live and work among outsiders. Don't miss a trick. Make the most of every opportunity. Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out.

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.