Imamat 19:29

19:29 Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, ¹  so that the land does not practice prostitution and become full of lewdness. ² 

Ulangan 23:17

Purity in Cultic Personnel

23:17 There must never be a sacred prostitute ³  among the young women ⁴  of Israel nor a sacred male prostitute ⁵  among the young men ⁶  of Israel.

Yosua 2:1

Joshua Sends Spies into the Land

2:1 Joshua son of Nun sent two spies out from Shittim secretly and instructed them: ⁷  “Find out what you can about the land, especially Jericho.” ⁸  They stopped at the house of a prostitute named Rahab and spent the night there. ⁹ 

[19:29]  ¹ tn Heb “to make her practice harlotry.” Some recent English versions regard this as religious or temple prostitution (cf. TEV, CEV).

[19:29]  ² tn Heb “and the land become full of lewdness.” Regarding the term “lewdness,” see the note on Lev 18:17 above.

[23:17]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “daughters.”

[23:17]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “sons.”

[2:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “Joshua, son of Nun, sent from Shittim two men, spies, secretly, saying.”

[2:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “go, see the land, and Jericho.”

[2:1]  map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[2:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “they went and entered the house of a woman, a prostitute, and her name was Rahab, and they slept there.”