Deuteronomy 23:17
 Deuteronomy 23:17 
New International Version (©2011)
No Israelite man or woman is to become a shrine prostitute.

New Living Translation (©2007)
"No Israelite, whether man or woman, may become a temple prostitute.

English Standard Version (©2001)
“None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, and none of the sons of Israel shall be a cult 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.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
No Israelite woman is to be a cult prostitute, and no Israelite man is to be a cult prostitute.

International Standard Version (©2012)
"There are to be no cultic prostitutes among the daughters or the sons of Israel.

NET Bible (©2006)
There must never be a sacred prostitute among the young women of Israel nor a sacred male prostitute among the young men of Israel.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
No Israelite man or woman should ever become a temple prostitute.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
There shall be no harlot of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.

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

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

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

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.

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

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

23:15-25 It is honourable to shelter and protect the weak, provided they are not wicked. Proselytes and converts to the truth, should be treated with particular tenderness, that they may have no temptation to return to the world. We cannot honour God with our substance, unless it be honestly and honourably come by. It must not only be considered what we give, but how we got it. Where the borrower gets, or hopes to get, it is just that the lender should share the gain; but to him that borrows for necessary food, pity must be showed. That which is gone out of thy lips, as a solemn and deliberate vow, must not be recalled, but thou shalt keep and perform it punctually and fully. They were allowed to pluck and eat of the corn or grapes that grew by the road side; only they must not carry any away. This law intimated what great plenty of corn and wine they should have in Canaan. It provided for the support of poor travellers, and teaches us to be kind to such, teaches us to be ready to distribute, and not to think every thing lost that is given away. Yet it forbids us to abuse the kindness of friends, or to take advantage of what is allowed. Faithfulness to their engagements should mark the people of God; and they should never encroach upon others.


Pulpit Commentary

Verses 17, 18. - Amongst idolatrous nations prostitution was in certain cases regarded as an act of religious service (cf. Herod, 1:199), and both males and females prostituted themselves especially in the worship of Astarte. All such abominations were to be unknown in Israel (cf. Micah 1:7). Whore; kedeshah (קְדֵשָׁה), a female who prostituted herself in the worship of an idol. The price of a dog; not money obtained from the sale of a dog, but the gains of the kadesh, or male prostitute, here called a dog, as the type of all uncleanness (cf. Revelation 22:15).


Gill's Exposition of the Entire 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; See Gill on Genesis 38:18. 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.


Deuteronomy 23:17 Parallel Commentaries

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Miscellaneous Laws
15You shall not deliver to his master the servant which is escaped from his master to you: 16He shall dwell with you, even among you, in that place which he shall choose in one of your gates, where it likes him best: you shall not oppress him. 17There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.

Genesis 19:5 They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."
Leviticus 19:29 "'Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness.
Deuteronomy 22:21 she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father's house. You must purge the evil from among you.
1 Kings 14:24 There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
1 Kings 15:12 He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his ancestors had made.
1 Kings 22:46 He rid the land of the rest of the male shrine prostitutes who remained there even after the reign of his father Asa.
2 Kings 23:7 He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the temple of the LORD, the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah.
Job 36:14 They die in their youth, among male prostitutes of the shrines.
Hosea 4:14 "I will not punish your daughters when they turn to prostitution, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, because the men themselves consort with harlots and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes-- a people without understanding will come to ruin!