Deuteronomy 23:17 & Deuteronomy 23:18

 Deuteronomy 23:17

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

a. NLT: “No Israelite, whether man or woman, may become a temple prostitute. [Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.]

b. NIV: No Israelite man or woman is to become a shrine prostitute. [THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.]

c. Young’s Literal Translation: 'There is not a whore among the daughters of Israel, nor is there a whoremonger among the sons of Israel; [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

d. Amplified Bible: There shall be no cult prostitute among the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a cult prostitute (a sodomite) among the sons of Israel. [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

e. Septuagint: 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.

f. Stone Edition Torah/Writings/Prophets: [In Jewish translations this verse is Deuteronomy 23:18] There shall not be a promiscuous woman among the daughters of Israel, and there shall not be a promiscuous man among the sons of Israel. [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE TANACH--STUDENT SIZE EDITION Copyright 1996, 1998 by Mesorah Publications, Ldt.]

1. “There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel…”

a. [There] shall be [Strong: 1961 hayah haw-yaw a primitive root (Compare 1933); to exist, i.e. be or become, come to pass (always emphatic, and not a mere copula or auxiliary):--beacon, X altogether, be(-come), accomplished, committed, like), break, cause, come (to pass), do, faint, fall, + follow, happen, X have, last, pertain, quit (one-)self, require, X use.]

b. no [Strong: 3808 lo' lo or lowi {lo}; or loh (Deut. 3:11) {lo}; a primitive particle; not (the simple or abs. negation); by implication, no; often used with other particles (as follows):--X before, + or else, ere, + except, ig(-norant), much, less, nay, neither, never, no((-ne), -r, (-thing)), (X as though...,(can-), for) not (out of), of nought, otherwise, out of, + surely, + as truly as, + of a truth, + verily, for want, + whether, without.]

c. whore [Strong: 6948 qdeshah ked-ay-shaw' feminine of 6945; a female devotee (i.e. prostitute):--harlot, whore. Qedeshah. ] [Gesenius: female temple prostitute, harlot.][Strong: a female devotee (i.e. prostitute):--harlot, whore.]

d. [of the] daughters [Strong: 1323 1323 bath bath from 1129 (as feminine of 1121); a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms of relationship, literally and figuratively):--apple (of the eye), branch, company, daughter, X first, X old, + owl, town, village.]

e. [of] Israel [Strong: 3478 Yisra'el yis-raw-ale' from 8280 and 410; he will rule as God; Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity: --Israel.]

2. “…nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.”

a. nor [Strong: 3808 lo' lo or lowi {lo}; or loh (Deut. 3:11) {lo}; a primitive particle; not (the simple or abs. negation); by implication, no; often used with other particles (as follows):--X before, + or else, ere, + except, ig(-norant), much, less, nay, neither, never, no((-ne), -r, (-thing)), (X as though...,(can-), for) not (out of), of nought, otherwise, out of, + surely, + as truly as, + of a truth, + verily, for want, + whether, without.]

b. [a] sodomite [Strong: 6945 qadesh kaw-dashe' from 6942; a (quasi) sacred person, i.e. (technically) a (male) devotee (by prostitution) to licentious idolatry:-- sodomite, unclean.] [Gesenius: male temple prostitute.]

1). This Hebrew word translated “sodomite” in Deuteronomy 23:17 is found a total of six times in the Old Testament. It is translated five times as “sodomite” and one time as “unclean”. 

a). Job 36:14 They die in youth, and their life is among the unclean. 

b). 1 Kings 14:24 And there were also sodomites  in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.

c). 1 Kings 15:12 And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.

d). 1 Kings 22:46 And the remnant of the sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land.

e). 2 Kings 23:7 And he brake down the houses of the sodomites, that were by the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the grove.

2). These were not citizens of Sodom as the translation may imply, because by the time four of these instances are written of, beginning in Deuteronomy and proceeding chronologically through 2 Kings, Sodom and the other “cities of the plain”, had already been destroyed for approximately 400 years. The exception is the occurrence in Job 36:14, because some scholars (and I agree with them) believe Job is the oldest book in the Bible, that it pre-dates the five books of Moses, Deuteronomy being the last that Moses wrote.

3). Unger’s Bible Dictionary: Sodomite (Hebrew: qadesh, consecrated, devoted). The sodomites were not inhabitants of Sodom, not their descendants, but men consecrated to the unnatural vice of Sodom (Genesis 19:5; compare Romans 1:27) as a religious rite. This dreadful “consecration”, or rather desecration, was spread in different forms over Phoenicia, Syria, Phrygia, Assyria, Babylonia. Ashtaroth, the Greek Astarte, was its chief object. The term was especially applied to the emasculated priests of Cybele, called Galli, perhaps from the river Gallus in Bithynia, which was said to make those who drank it mad. In Deuteronomy 23:17, the toleration of a sodomite was expressly forbidden, and the pay received by a sodomite was not to be put into the temple treasury (v. 18). “The price of a dog” is a figurative expression used to denote the gains of a qadesh (sodomite), who was called kinaidos, by the Greeks, from the doglike manner in which he debased himself (see Revelation 22:15, where the unclean are called “dogs”).

4). Robert A. J. Gagnon, “The Bible And Homosexual Practice” pp. 100-102. “There is good evidence of homosexual cult prostitution in Israel during the period of the divided monarchy. A number of texts speak of the existence of qedesim (sg. qades, twice as a collective), literally, “holy/sanctified men,” “consecrated men,” “men dedicated to the deity” (Deuteronomy 23:17, 18; 1 Kings 14:24; 15:12; 22:46; 2 Kings 23:7; Job 36:14) The term is usally rendered in standard English translations to denote men at cult sites who engaged in homosexual prostitution: “male temple (or cult, shrine, sacred) prostitutes…the qedesim… men “whose masculinity had been transformed into feminity” by a goddess (Asherah? Astarte?).

a). D.C.: Mr. Gagnon includes Deuteronomy 23:17, 18 as evidence of homosexual cult prostitution in Israel during the divided kingdom. I believe that Moses wrote Deuteronomy before he died and immediately before Israel entered the land of Canaan, around 1400 B.C.. Because of that, the warning in Deuteronomy 23:17, 18 is not evidence of cult prostitution during the divided kingdom, but evidence of cult prostitution in Canaan previous to Israel entering. Generally, this specific sinful behavior would be included in the sinful Canaanite behaviors in Leviticus 18, particularly Leviticus 18:22.

5). Other different cultural examples are called assinnus, kurgarrus, and galli. They were all males, all temple prostitutes, and all sexually serviced males, yet consecrated to different goddesses. Some were castrated while some were not. Robert A. J. Gagnon writes of them, “men whose masculinity had been transformed into femininity by a goddess”. (The Bible And Homosexual Practice). It was from reading Gagnon’s book where I learned of the similarity between the ancient male temple prostitute and the contemporary transgendered (though not consecrated to a goddess). These are individuals who believe they are females, born anatomically as males but believe they are trapped in a male body, and males, born anatomically as female but believe they are a male trapped in a female body. What we are seeing in America and across the world is just a modern manifestation of this deception and confusion. The examples from Scripture are individuals who because of godless demonic idolatry believed they were transformed by a goddess into a female. In today’s examples it is also demonic godless influences that masquerade as science.

6).  Worship of Inanna: In the famous Sumerian/Babylonian poem The Epic of Gilgamesh (c. 2700 - 1400 BCE) Inanna appears as Ishtar [Ashtoreth, a Canaanite goddess; Unger’s Bible Dictionary]  and, in Phoenician mythology, as Astarte [Greek name for Ashtoreth; Unger’s bible Dictionary.] In the Greek myth The Judgment of Paris, but also in other tales of the ancient Greeks, the goddess Aphrodite is traditionally associated with Inanna through her great beauty and sensuality. Inanna is always depicted as a young woman, never as mother or faithful wife, who is fully aware of her feminine power and confronts life boldly without fear of how she will be perceived by others, especially by men. Her temple at Uruk was her central cult center but throughout Mesopotamia her temples and shrines were numerous and sacred prostitutes, of both genders, were employed to ensure the fertility of the earth and the continued prosperity of the communities. Male transgenders, known as kurgarra, castrated themselves, females who identified as males were known as galatur; both were thought to have either been transformed by Inanna/Ishtar herself or created by the Father God Enki to rescue Inanna from the underworld. The Descent of Inanna notes that Enki made them "neither male nor female" and the clergy of Inanna's temple honored this tradition by embodying it. Scholar Colin Spencer comments: Sacred prostiution was the central part of the ritual in the Temple. The priestess performed a sacred marriage to ensure the fertility of the country and the great fortune of the new king, for the king copulated with the holy priestess at the beginning of his reign. There were lesser priestesses who were also musicians, singers, and dancers, certainly some of these were men who also copulated with both men and women. The goddess Ishtar had turned these men into women as a demonstration of her awesome powers. Yet though Ishtar was an all-powerful presence and through prostitution was revered and was also an important economic factor in the running of the Temple, women's role in society began to be secondary to that of men. (29) https://www.worldhistory.org/Inanna/

7). 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.

  

c. [of the] sons [Strong: 1121 ben bane from 1129; a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like 1, 251, etc.)):--+ afflicted, age, (Ahoh-) (Ammon-) (Hachmon-) (Lev-)ite, (anoint-)ed one, appointed to, (+) arrow, (Assyr-) (Babylon-) (Egypt-) (Grec-)ian, one born, bough, branch, breed, + (young) bullock, + (young) calf, X came up in, child, colt, X common, X corn, daughter, X of first, + firstborn, foal, + very fruitful, + postage, X in, + kid, + lamb, (+) man, meet, + mighty, + nephew, old, (+) people, + rebel, + robber, X servant born, X soldier, son, + spark, + steward, + stranger, X surely, them of, + tumultuous one, + valiant(-est), whelp, worthy, young (one), youth.

d. [of] Israel [Strong: 3478 Yisra'el yis-raw-ale' from 8280 and 410; he will rule as God; Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity: --Israel.

 Deuteronomy 23:18

Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.

a. NLT: When you are bringing an offering to fulfill a vow, you must not bring to the house of the LORD your God any offering from the earnings of a prostitute, whether a man or a woman, for both are detestable to the LORD your God. [Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.]

b. NIV: You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute into the house of the LORD your God to pay any vow, because the LORD your God detests them both. [THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.]

c. Young’s Literal Translation: thou dost not bring a gift of a whore, or a price of a dog, into the house of Jehovah thy God, for any vow; for the abomination of Jehovah thy God are even both of them. [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

d. Amplified Bible: You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the price of a dog (a sodomite) into the house of the Lord your God as payment of a vow, for both of these [the gift and the giver] are an abomination to the Lord your God. [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

e. Septuagint: Thou shalt not bring the hire of a harlot, nor the price of a dog into the house of the Lord thy God, for any vow; because even both are an abomination to the Lord thy God.

f. Stone Edition Torah/Writings/Prophets: You shall not bring a harlot’s hire or the exchange for a dog to the House of HASHEM, your God, for any vow, for both of them are an abomination of HASHEM, your God. [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE TANACH--STUDENT SIZE EDITION Copyright 1996, 1998 by Mesorah Publications, Ldt.]

 

1. “Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore…”

a. [Thou shalt] not [Strong: 3808 lo' lo or lowi {lo}; or loh (Deut. 3:11) {lo}; a primitive particle; not (the simple or abs. negation); by implication, no; often used with other particles (as follows):--X before, + or else, ere, + except, ig(-norant), much, less, nay, neither, never, no((-ne), -r, (-thing)), (X as though...,(can-), for) not (out of), of nought, otherwise, out of, + surely, + as truly as, + of a truth, + verily, for want, + whether, without.]

b. bring [Strong: 935 bow' bo a primitive root; to go or come (in a wide variety of applications):--abide, apply, attain, X be, befall, + besiege, bring (forth, in, into, to pass), call, carry, X certainly, (cause, let, thing for) to come (against, in, out, upon, to pass), depart, X doubtless again, + eat, + employ, (cause to) enter (in, into, -tering, -trance, -try), be fallen, fetch, + follow, get, give, go (down, in, to war), grant, + have, X indeed, (in-)vade, lead, lift (up), mention, pull in, put, resort, run (down), send, set, X (well) stricken (in age), X surely, take (in), way.

1). This is clearly speaking about “bringing” and offering to the Lord. The same Hebrew word is used in Malachi when speaking about the tithe.

2). Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

c. [the] hire [Strong: 868 'ethnan eth-nan' the same as 866; a gift (as the price of harlotry or idolatry):--hire, reward.] [Gesenius: hire of prostitute, price, hire (of harlot), of idolatrous Israel, Jerusalem, Tyre (fig.)]

d. [of a] whore [Strong: 2181 zanah zaw-naw' a primitive root (highly-fed and therefore wanton); to commit adultery (usually of the female, and less often of simple fornication, rarely of involuntary ravishment); figuratively, to commit idolatry (the Jewish people being regarded as the spouse of Jehovah):--(cause to) commit fornication, X continually, X great, (be an, play the) harlot, (cause to be, play the) whore, (commit, fall to) whoredom, (cause to) go a-whoring, whorish.] [Blue Letter Bible: Translated: harlot (36 times), go a whoring (19 times), whoredom (15 times), whore (11 times), commit fornication (3 times), whorish (3 times), harlot (along with 802 *'ishshah) a woman (used in the same wide sense as ''enowsh' (582)):--(adulter)ess, each, every, female, X many, + none, one, + together, wife, woman. Often unexpressed in English (2 times), whore’s (along with 802 (1 time).]

2. “…or the price of a dog…”

a. [or the] price [Strong: 4242 mchiyr mekk-eer' from an unused root meaning to buy; price, payment, wages:--gain, hire, price, sold, worth.]

b. [of a] dog [Strong: 3611 3611 keleb keh'-leb from an unused root means. to yelp, or else to attack; a dog; hence (by euphemism) a male prostitute:--dog.] 

1). Robert A.J. Gagnon writes in The Bible And Homosexual Practice, citing Martti Nissinen, “The slur “dog” was applied to the assinnus, the “men-women” devoted to Ishtar who feminized their appearance, probably underwent castration, and for a fee allowed themselves to be penetrated anally by other males. The Syrian galli who performed a similar role in their devotion to the goddesses Atargatis or Cybele during the Hellenistic and Roman periods were called “holy” (hieroi).”

2). Don Costello: Here, Moses is writing and warning the second generation Israelites, who were just about to enter Canaan, not to engage in temple prostitution, which was a common practice in Cannan. Women and men offered their sexual services for payment and the money would go into the idolatrous temple coffers. Within the nations of Cannan and many other ancient nations there was an idolatrous philosophy where the people believed that goddesses would “transform their masculinity into femininity” or their femininity into masculinity. Now folks refer to it as gender dysphoria, distress over the desire to be a different gender. It is a mental and spiritual disorder and can be fixed through redemption in Christ Jesus. Back then when idolatry ruled over civilizations, they said the goddess stole my masculinity.  

3. “…into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow…”

a. [into the] house [Strong: 1004 bayith bah'-yith probably from 1129 abbreviated; a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etc.):--court, daughter, door, + dungeon, family, + forth of, X great as would contain, hangings, home(born), (winter)house(-hold), inside(-ward), palace, place, + prison, + steward, + tablet, temple, web, + within(-out).]

b. [of the] LORD [Strong: 3068 Yhovah yeh-ho-vaw' from 1961; (the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God:--Jehovah, the Lord.]

c. [thy] God [Strong: 430 'elohiym el-o-heem' plural of 433; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative:--angels, X exceeding, God (gods)(-dess, -ly), X (very) great, judges, X mighty.]

d. [for] any [Strong: 3605 kol kole or (Jer. 33:8) kowl {kole}; from 3634; properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense):--(in) all (manner, (ye)), altogether, any (manner), enough, every (one, place, thing), howsoever, as many as, (no-)thing, ought, whatsoever, (the) whole, whoso(-ever).]

e. vow [Strong: 5088 neder neh'-der or neder {nay'-der}; from 5087; a promise (to God); also (concretely) a thing promised:--vow((-ed)).]

1). Adam Clarke’s Commentary: Many public prostitutes dedicated to their gods a part of their impure earnings; and some of these prostitutes were publicly kept in the temple of Venus Melytta, whose gains were applied to the support of her abominable worship.

4. “…for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.”

a. for [Strong: 3588 kiy kee a primitive particle (the full form of the prepositional prefix) indicating causal relations of all kinds, antecedent or consequent; (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below); often largely modified by other particles annexed:--and, + (forasmuch, inasmuch, where-)as, assured(-ly), + but, certainly, doubtless, + else, even, + except, for, how, (because, in, so, than) that, + nevertheless, now, rightly, seeing, since, surely, then, therefore, + (al- )though, + till, truly, + until, when, whether, while, whom, yea, yet.]

b. even [Strong: 1571 gam gam by contraction from an unused root meaning to gather; properly, assemblage; used only adverbially also, even, yea, though; often repeated as correl. both...and:--again, alike, also, (so much) as (soon), both (so)...and , but, either...or, even, for all, (in) likewise (manner), moreover, nay...neither, one, then(-refore), though, what, with, yea.

c. both [these] [Strong: 8147 shnayim shen-ah'-yim dual of 8145; feminine shttayim {shet-tah'-yim}; two; also (as ordinal) twofold:--both, couple, double, second, twain, + twelfth, + twelve, + twenty (sixscore) thousand, twice, two.]

d. [are] abomination [Strong: 8441 tow`ebah to-ay-baw' or tonebah {to-ay-baw'}; feminine active participle of 8581; properly, something disgusting (morally), i.e. (as noun) an abhorrence; especially idolatry or (concretely) an idol:-- abominable (custom, thing), abomination.]

e. [unto the] LORD [Strong: 3068 * Yhovah] [Strong: from 1961; (the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God:--Jehovah, the Lord.]

f. [thy] God [430 * 'elohiym] [Strong: plural of 433; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative:--angels, X exceeding, God (gods)(-dess, -ly), X (very) great, judges, X mighty.]

1). Both of these behaviors, female and male homosexual cult prostitution were abominations and the monies received for them forbidden to be brought into the temple.

2). Family Bible Notes:  The gains and the practices of iniquity are an abomination to the Lord; and no offerings are acceptable to him but those of honest, upright, believing, and affectionate hearts.

3). Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible: Thou shall not bring the hire of a whore,.... Which was given to her as a reward for the use of her body: or the price of a dog; not of the firstborn of a dog, the price for the redemption of it, as some; nor for the loan of a hunting dog, or a shepherd's dog for breed, as Josephus (z) interprets this law. Abarbinel understands it figuratively of a sodomite, comparable to a dog, for his uncleanness and impudence; see Revelation 22:15; and the price of such an one the gain he got by the prostitution of his body to unnatural lusts; and so as the hire of a whore answers to one in Deuteronomy 23:17, the price of a dog to a sodomite here; and in this he is followed by some, nor is it a sense to be despised; though the Jews (a) understand it literally of a dog, and of the exchange of another creature with that; so Onkelos renders it,"the exchange of a dog:''now neither of these might a man bring into the house of the Lord thy God for any vow;