What Does Deuteronomy 23:18 Mean?
You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog into the house of the LORD your God for any vow, for even both of these are things the LORD your God recoils from.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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.THE KEY
A vow cannot change the source of what it offers: money does not become acceptable simply because it is dedicated to God.
THE MEANING
This verse forbids bringing a prostitute’s fee or a dog’s price into God’s house as a vow; dedication does not alter either source. In the surrounding law, “dog” likely refers to male cult prostitution, though the Hebrew keeps the word “dog.”
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A sincere religious vow can make any money acceptable to God.
THE ROOT
אֶתְנַן
ʾetnan
GROWS FROM
נתן
give, set, place
“wages” in this verse is ʾetnan. The hire bears the same נתן seed as a gift: it is something given and received, but that transfer does not erase how it was gained. The verse blocks a vow from changing the character of the payment simply by carrying it into God’s house.
ALSO GROWS
natan: to give, set, or place
נָתַן
The root makes the fee’s movement visible: it is given, but its destination does not rewrite its source.
mattanah: gift
מַתָּנָה
This related word shows how close payment and gift sit in the language of giving; calling proceeds a gift does not alter what produced them.
מְחִיר
məḥîr
GROWS FROM
מכר
sell, exchange for a price
The word belongs to the language of selling and sale, so the verse pairs a payment with a sale price: both transactions remain visible in what is brought. A later sacred destination does not erase the exchange that produced the money.
ALSO GROWS
makhar: to sell
מָכַר
The verb makes the transaction behind a price explicit: something is transferred for value.
mimkar: a sale or thing sold
מִמְכָּר
This related noun keeps the exchange in view, even when the proceeds are later presented as a vow.
THE PATTERN
A sacred designation does not erase what an offering is or how it was obtained.
The sacrifice of the wicked is a recoiling thing to the LORD, but the prayer of the straight ones is his delight.When you bring near the blind for slaughter, is it not evil? And when you bring near the lame and the sick, is it not evil? Bring it near now to your governor. Will he be pleased with you, or lift your face? says the LORD of hosts.But you say, If a man says to his father or his mother, Corban, whatever help from me you might have had, he is free.THE THREAD
When you vow a vow to God, do not linger to make it whole. For there is no delight in the thick-headed. Make whole what you have vowed.Both verses use the נֶדֶר (neder, “vow”) word-family from נדר (n-d-r, “to vow”). Here a vow cannot validate the source of what is offered; Ecclesiastes shows that the vow still binds the one who makes it.
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