Deuteronomy 23:17

Myles Coverdale Bible

There shal be no whore amonge ye doughters of Israel, nether whorekeper amonge the sonnes of Israel.

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.

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.

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 (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

¹⁵ Thou shalt not delyuer vnto his master the seruaunt, which is escaped fro him vnto the. ¹⁶ He shall dwell with the in the place that he choseth within eny of thy gates, for his wealth, and thou shalt not vexe him. ¹⁷ There shal be no whore amonge ye doughters of Israel, nether whorekeper amonge the sonnes of Israel. ¹⁸ Thou shalt not bringe ye hyre of an whoore ner the price of a dogg in to the house of the LORDE yi God for eny maner of vowe: for they both are abhominacion vnto the LORDE thy God. ¹⁹ Thou shalt occupye no vsury vnto yi brother, nether with money, ner with fode, ner with eny maner thinge that vsury maye be vsed withall. ²⁰ (Vnto a strauger thou maiest lende vpo vsury, but not vnto thy brother) yt the LORDE thy God maye blesse the in all yt thou takest in hade, in the lode whither thou commest in to possesse it. ²¹ Whan thou makest a vowe vnto ye LORDE yi God, to shalt not be slacke to perfourme it: for the LORDE thy God shal requyre it of the, and it shal be synne vnto the. ²² Yf thou leaue vowinge, then is it no synne vnto the. ²³ But that which is proceaded out of yi lyppes shalt thou kepe, and do therafter, acordinge as thou hast vowed vnto the LORDE of a frewyll, which thou hast spoken wt thy mouth. ²⁴ Whan thou goest in to thy neghtours vyniarde, thou mayest eate of the grapes acordinge to thy desyre, tyll thou haue ynough. But thou shalt put none in to thy vessell.

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 stode vp, and thanked the people of ye londe: namely the Hethites.

Genesis 23:10
For Ephron dwelt amonge the Hethites.Then answered Ephron the Hethite vnto Abraham, that the Hethites might heare, before all that wente out and in at the gates of his cite, and sayde:

Genesis 23:14
Ephron answered Abraham, and sayde vnto him:

Genesis 23:20
So the felde and the caue therin was made sure of the Hethites vnto Abraham, for a possession to bury in.

Genesis 25:9
And his sonnes Isaac and Ismael buried him in the dubble caue in the felde of Ephron the sonne of Zoar the Hethite, which lyeth ouer before Mamre,

Genesis 50:13
and caried him to ye lande of Canaan, and buried him in ye dubble caue, that Abraham bought with the felde for a possession to bury in, of Ephron ye Hethite ouer ageynst Mamre.

Psalms 112:5
Wel is him that is mercifull, & lendeth gladly, & podreth his wordes wt discrecion.

Matthew 10:16
Beholde, I sende you forth as shepe amoge wolues. Be ye therfore wyse as serpentes, and innocent as doues.

Acts 7:16
and were brought ouer vnto Siche, and layed in the sepulcre, that Abraham boughte for money of the children of Hemor at Sichem.

Ephesians 5:15
Take hede therfore how ye walke circumspectly, not as the vnwyse, but as ye wyse,

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.