Deuteronomy 23:17

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.

Parallel Translations

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

Christian Standard Bible®
“No Israelite woman is to be a cult prostitute, and no Israelite man is to be a cult 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 Revised Standard
None of the daughters of Israel shall be a temple prostitute; none of the sons of Israel shall be 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 Thou shalt not deliver up a slave unto his lord, - one who maketh his escape unto thee, from his lord: ¹⁶ with thee, shall he remain in thy midst, in the place which he shall choose in any of thy gates where it seemeth good to him, - thou shalt not oppress him. ¹⁷ There shall be no female devotee of the daughters of Israel, - neither shall there be, a male devotee, of the sons of Israel. ¹⁸ Thou shalt not bring the wages of an unchaste woman, or the hire of a dog, into the house of Yahweh thy God for any vow, - for, an abomination unto Yahweh thy God, are they both. ¹⁹ Thou shalt not lend on interest to thy brother, interest of silver, interest of food, - interest of any thing that can be lent on interest: ²⁰ to a foreigner, thou mayest lend on interest, but to thy brother, shalt thou not lend on interest, - that Yahweh thy God may bless thee, in everything where-unto thou puttest thy hand, upon the land which thou art entering to possess. ²¹ When thou shalt vow a vow unto Yahweh thy God, thou shalt not delay to make it good, - for Yahweh thy God would, require, it of thee, and it should be in thee sin. ²² But, if thou refrain from vowing, it shall not be in thee sin. ²³ That which goeth forth out of thy lips, thou must observe and do, - according as thou didst vow unto Yahweh thy God the free-will, offering of which thou didst speak with thy mouth. ²⁴ When thou enterest into the vineyard of thy neighbour, then mayest thou eat grapes at thy pleasure to thy fill,-but into thy vessel, shalt thou put none.

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 down to the people of the land, to the sons of Heth;

Genesis 23:10
Now, Ephron, was sitting in the midst of the sons of Heth, - so Ephron the Hittite responded to Abraham, in the ears of the sons of Heth, even all that were entering the gate of his city, saying:

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

Genesis 23:20
So was confirmed the field with the cave which was therein to Abraham, for a possession of a buryingplace, - from the sons of Heth.

Genesis 25:9
And Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him, in the cave of Machpelah, - in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, which is over against Mamre;

Genesis 50:13
so his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, - which Abraham bought - with the field - for a possession of a buryingplace from Ephron the Hittite over against Mamre.

Psalms 112:5
Well for a man showing favour and lending! He shall sustain his affairs with justice.

Matthew 10:16
Lo! I, send you forth as sheep amidst wolves; become ye therefore - prudent, as serpents, and simple, as doves.

Acts 7:16
And were brought over into Shechem, and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased, for a price of silver, of the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

Ephesians 5:15
Be taking heed, therefore, exactly how ye are walking, - not as unwise, but as wise, -

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.