Ulangan 23:17

Purity in Cultic Personnel

23:17 There must never be a sacred prostitute ¹  among the young women ²  of Israel nor a sacred male prostitute ³  among the young men ⁴  of Israel.

Ulangan 23:1

Purity in Public Worship

23:1 A man with crushed ⁵  or severed genitals ⁶  may not enter the assembly of the Lord. ⁷ 

1 Samuel 2:22

2:22 Now Eli was very old when he heard about everything that his sons used to do to all the people of Israel ⁸  and how they used to have sex with ⁹  the women who were stationed at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

1 Samuel 2:1

Hannah Exalts the Lord in Prayer

2:1 Hannah prayed, ¹⁰ 

“My heart rejoices in the Lord;

my horn ¹¹  is exalted high because of the Lord.

I loudly denounce ¹²  my enemies,

for I am happy that you delivered me. ¹³ 

1 Raja-raja 14:24

14:24 There were also male cultic prostitutes ¹⁴  in the land. They committed the same horrible sins as the nations ¹⁵  that the Lord had driven out from before the Israelites.

[23:17]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “sacred prostitute” here (קְדֵשָׁה [qÿdeshah], from קַדֵשׁ [qadesh, “holy”]; cf. NIV “shrine prostitute”; NASB “cult prostitute”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “temple prostitute”) refers to the pagan fertility cults that employed female and male prostitutes in various rituals designed to evoke agricultural and even human fecundity (cf. Gen 38:21-22; 1 Kgs 14:24; 15:12; 22:47; 2 Kgs 23:7; Hos 4:14). The Hebrew term for a regular, noncultic (i.e., “secular”) female prostitute is זוֹנָה (zonah).

[23:17]  ² tn Heb “daughters.”

[23:17]  ³ tn The male cultic prostitute was called קָדֵשׁ (qadesh; see note on the phrase “sacred prostitute” earlier in this verse). The colloquial Hebrew term for a “secular” male prostitute (i.e., a sodomite) is the disparaging epithet כֶּלֶב (kelev, “dog”) which occurs in the following verse (cf. KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB).

[23:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “sons.”

[23:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “bruised by crushing,” which many English versions take to refer to crushed testicles (NAB, NRSV, NLT); TEV “who has been castrated.”

[23:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “cut off with respect to the penis”; KJV, ASV “hath his privy member cut off”; English versions vary in their degree of euphemism here; cf. NAB, NRSV, TEV, NLT “penis”; NASB “male organ”; NCV “sex organ”; CEV “private parts”; NIV “emasculated by crushing or cutting.”

[23:1]  ⁷ sn The Hebrew term translated “assembly” (קָהָל, qahal) does not refer here to the nation as such but to the formal services of the tabernacle or temple. Since emasculated or other sexually abnormal persons were commonly associated with pagan temple personnel, the thrust here may be primarily polemical in intent. One should not read into this anything having to do with the mentally and physically handicapped as fit to participate in the life and ministry of the church.

[2:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “to all Israel.”

[2:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “lie with.”

[2:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “prayed and said.” This is somewhat redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified in the translation.

[2:1]  ¹¹ sn Horns of animals have always functioned as both offensive and defensive weapons for them. As a figure of speech the horn is therefore often used in the Bible as a symbol of human strength (see also in v. 10). The allusion in v. 1 to the horn being lifted high suggests a picture of an animal elevating its head in a display of strength or virility.

[2:1]  ¹² tn Heb “my mouth opens wide against.”

[2:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “for I rejoice in your deliverance.”

[14:24]  ¹⁴ tc The Old Greek translation has “a conspiracy” rather than “male cultic prostitutes.”

[14:24]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “they did according to all the abominable acts of the nations.”