You must not defile your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will be prostituted and filled with depravity.
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘Don’t profane your daughter, to make her a prostitute; lest the land fall to prostitution, and the land become full of wickedness.
- KJV Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness.
- NKJV ‘Do not prostitute your daughter, to cause her to be a harlot, lest the land fall into harlotry, and the land become full of wickedness.
- NASB ‘Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, so that the land does not fall into prostitution, and the land does not become full of outrageous sin.
- NLT “Do not defile your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will be filled with prostitution and wickedness.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A father must not prostitute his daughter, lest sexual sin corrupt the whole land. God protects the vulnerable and guards the purity of His people.
Overview
Cult prostitution and the exploitation of daughters were realities in surrounding cultures, often linked to fertility worship. God forbids treating a child as property to be sold into immorality, warning that such wickedness defiles the entire community. The concern for the land becoming 'full of wickedness' shows that personal sin has corporate consequences, and it underscores God's care for the dignity of women and children.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Deut 23:17–18No daughter or son of Israel is to be a shrine prostitute.
- 1 Cor 6:15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!
- Lev 21:7A priest must not marry a woman defiled by prostitution or divorced by her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.
- Hos 4:12–14My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God.
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Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 19:29 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.