The daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by playing the harlot, she profanes her father. She shall be burned with fire.
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘The daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by playing the prostitute, she profanes her father. She shall be burned with fire.
- KJV And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.
- BSB If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by prostituting herself, she profanes her father; she must be burned in the fire.
- NASB Also the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by prostitution, she profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.
- NLT “If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she also defiles her father’s holiness, and she must be burned to death.
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 priest's daughter who becomes a prostitute profanes her father and is to be burned with fire. Those in sacred families bear heightened responsibility to live honorably.
Overview
Because the priestly household represented God's holiness before the people, the daughter's immorality brought severe disgrace and judgment. The gravity reflects the principle that greater privilege carries greater accountability. While Israel's civil penalties are not the church's to enforce, the enduring lesson is that holiness is to mark every member of God's covenant family.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Gen 38:24About three months later, Judah was told, “Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has played the prostitute. Moreover, behold, she is with child by prostitution.” Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.”
- Lev 19:29“‘Don’t profane your daughter, to make her a prostitute; lest the land fall to prostitution, and the land become full of wickedness.
- Titus 1:6if anyone is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, who are not accused of loose or unruly behavior.
- Matt 11:20–24Then he began to denounce the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done, because they didn’t repent.
- Mal 2:3Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.
- Isa 33:14The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless ones. Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning?
- 1 Sam 2:34“‘This will be the sign to you, that will come on your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they will both die.
- Josh 7:15It shall be, that he who is taken with the devoted thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed Yahweh’s covenant, and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.’”
- Josh 7:25Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? Yahweh will trouble you today.” All Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned them with fire and stoned them with stones.
- Lev 20:14“‘If a man takes a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burned with fire, both he and they; that there may be no wickedness among you.
- 1 Sam 3:13–14For I have told him that I will judge his house forever, for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves, and he didn’t restrain them.
- Ezek 9:6Kill utterly the old man, the young man, the virgin, little children and women; but don’t come near any man on whom is the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” Then they began at the old men who were before the house.
- 1 Tim 3:4–5one who rules his own house well, having children in subjection with all reverence;
- 1 Sam 2:17The sin of the young men was very great before Yahweh; for the men despised the offering of Yahweh.
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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 21:9 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.