Deuteronomy 23:17

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.

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 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 "You shall not give back to his master the slave who has escaped from his master to you. ¹⁶ He may dwell with you in your midst, in the place which he chooses within one of your gates, where it seems best to him; you shall not oppress him. ¹⁷ "There shall be no ritual harlot [fn] of the daughters of Israel, or a perverted [fn] one of the sons of Israel. ¹⁸ You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog to the house of the LORD your God for any vowed offering, for both of these are an abomination to the LORD your God. ¹⁹ "You shall not charge interest to your brother--interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest. ²⁰ To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you shall not charge interest, that the LORD your God may bless you in all to which you set your hand in the land which you are entering to possess. ²¹ "When you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the LORD your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you. ²² But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you. ²³ That which has gone from your lips you shall keep and perform, for you voluntarily vowed to the LORD your God what you have promised with your mouth. ²⁴ "When you come into your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes at your pleasure, but you shall not put any in your container.

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 stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, the sons of Heth.

Genesis 23:10
Now Ephron dwelt among the sons of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the presence of the sons of Heth, all who entered at the gate of his city, saying,

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

Genesis 23:20
So the field and the cave that is in it were deeded to Abraham by the sons of Heth as property for a burial place.

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

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

Psalms 112:5
A good man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion.

Matthew 10:16
Mark 13:9-13; Luke 21:12-17">[xr] "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 carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.

Ephesians 5:15
See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools 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.