31 Bible Verses about Harlots

‘Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, so that the land will not fall to prostitution and become full of wickedness.

Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways,
Do not stray into her [evil, immoral] paths.

To keep you from the immoral woman;
From the seductress with her flattering words,

Moreover, the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king [of Judah], “Have you seen what that faithless Israel has done—how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there she was a prostitute? I thought, ‘After she has done all these things she will return to Me’; but she did not return, and her treacherous (faithless) sister Judah saw it. And I saw [that even though Judah knew] that for all the acts of adultery (idolatry) of faithless Israel, I [the Lord] had sent her away and given her a certificate of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid; but she went and was a prostitute also [following after idols]. read more.
Because of the thoughtlessness of Israel’s prostitution [her immorality mattered little to her], she desecrated the land and committed adultery with [idols of] stones and trees.

You shall not bring the wages of a prostitute or the price of a dog [that is, a male prostitute] into the house of the Lord your God as payment for any vow, for both of these [the gift and the giver] are utterly repulsive to the Lord your God.

“There shall be no cult prostitute among the daughters of Israel, nor shall there be a cult prostitute (a sodomite) among the sons of Israel. You shall not bring the wages of a prostitute or the price of a dog [that is, a male prostitute] into the house of the Lord your God as payment for any vow, for both of these [the gift and the giver] are utterly repulsive to the Lord your God.

“But come here, you sons of a sorceress [raised in deception and superstition],
Offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute.

Moreover, the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king [of Judah], “Have you seen what that faithless Israel has done—how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there she was a prostitute?

“Why should I [overlook these offenses and] forgive you?
Your children have abandoned (rejected) Me
And sworn [their oaths] by those who are not gods.
When I had fed them until they were full [and bound them to Me by a promise],
They committed [spiritual] adultery,
Assembling in troops at the houses of prostitutes (idols).

“For their mother has played the prostitute;
She who conceived them has acted shamefully,
For she said, ‘I will pursue my lovers
Who give me my food and my water,
My wool and my flax, my oil and my [refreshing] drinks.’

My people consult their [lifeless] wooden idol, and their [diviner’s] wand gives them oracles.
For a spirit of prostitution has led them astray [morally and spiritually],
And they have played the prostitute, withdrawing themselves from their God.

“Oholah played the prostitute while she was Mine; and she adored and lusted after her lovers (allies), the Assyrians, her neighbors,

“Those who swear [their oaths] by the sin (guilt) of Samaria or Ashimah (a pagan goddess),
Who say, ‘By the life of your god [the golden calf], O Dan!’
And [swear], ‘By the life of the way of [idolatrous] Beersheba,’
They shall fall and not rise again.”

All her idols shall be broken in pieces,
All her earnings [from her idolatry] shall be burned with fire,
And all her images I shall make desolate;
For from the earnings of a prostitute she collected them,
And to the earnings of a prostitute they shall return.

And on her forehead a name was written, a mystery: “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES (false religions, heresies) AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints (God’s people), and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus [who were martyred]. When I saw her, I wondered in amazement. But the angel said to me, “Why do you wonder? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and ten horns.

“Therefore the showers have been withheld,
And there has been no spring rain.
Yet you have the forehead (appearance) of a prostitute;
You refuse to be ashamed.

She sits at the doorway of her house,
On a seat by the high and conspicuous places of the city,

Calling to those who pass by,
Who are making their paths straight:

“Whoever is naive or inexperienced, let him turn in here!”
And to him who lacks understanding (common sense), she says,
read more.

“Stolen waters (pleasures) are sweet [because they are forbidden];
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”

But he does not know that the spirits of the dead are there,
And that her guests are [already] in the depths of Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead).

At times she was in the streets, at times in the market places,
Lurking and setting her ambush at every corner.

A man who loves [skillful and godly] wisdom makes his father joyful,
But he who associates with prostitutes wastes his wealth.

“These who pant after (long to see) the dust of the earth on the head of the helpless [as sign of their grief and distress]
Also turn aside the way of the humble;
And a man and his father will go to the same girl
So that My holy name is profaned.

otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the prostitute with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat his sacrifice (meal), and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters would play the prostitute with their gods and cause your sons also to play the prostitute (commit apostasy) with their gods [that is, abandon the true God for man-made idols].

For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey [like a honeycomb]
And her speech is smoother than oil;

But in the end she is bitter like [the extract of] wormwood,
Sharp as a two-edged sword.

Her feet go down to death;
Her steps take hold of Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead),
read more.

So that she does not think [seriously] about the path of life;
Her ways are aimless and unstable; you cannot know where her path leads.
Now then, my sons, listen to me
And do not depart from (forget) the words of my mouth.

Let your way [in life] be far from her,
And do not go near the door of her house [avoid even being near the places of temptation],

Or you will give your honor to others,
And your years to the cruel one,

And strangers will be filled with your strength
And your hard-earned wealth will go to the house of a foreigner [who does not know God];

And you will groan when your life is ending,
When your flesh and your body are consumed;

And you say, “How I hated instruction and discipline,
And my heart despised correction and reproof!

“I have not listened to the voice of my teachers,
Nor have I inclined my ear to those who instructed me.

“I was almost in total ruin
In the midst of the assembly and congregation.”
Drink water from your own cistern [of a pure marriage relationship]
And fresh running water from your own well.

Should your springs (children) be dispersed,
As streams of water in the streets?

[Confine yourself to your own wife.] Let your children be yours alone,
And not the children of strangers with you.

Let your fountain (wife) be blessed [with the rewards of fidelity],
And rejoice in the wife of your youth.

Let her be as a loving hind and graceful doe,
Let her breasts refresh and satisfy you at all times;
Always be exhilarated and delight in her love.

Why should you, my son, be exhilarated with an immoral woman
And embrace the bosom of an outsider (pagan)?

The daughter of any priest who profanes herself by prostitution profanes her father; she shall be burned in fire.

Tamar was told, “Listen, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.” So she removed her widow’s clothes and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself up [in disguise], and sat in the gateway of Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife [as Judah had promised]. When Judah saw her, he thought she was a [temple] prostitute, for she had covered her face [as such women did]. read more.
He turned to her by the road, and said, “Please come, let me lie with you”; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, “What will you give me, that you may lie with me?” He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “Will you give me a pledge [as a deposit] until you send it?” He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She said, “Your seal and your cord, and the staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and was intimate with her, and she conceived by him. Then she got up and left, and removed her veil and put on her widow’s clothing. When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite, to get his pledge [back] from the woman, he was unable to find her.

Joshua the son of Nun sent two men as scouts secretly from Shittim, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho [the walled city].” So they went and came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab, and lodged there. Now the king of Jericho was told, “Behold, men from the sons of Israel have come here tonight to spy and search out the land.” So the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, because they have come [as spies] to search out all the land.” read more.
But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them; so she said, “Yes, two men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. When it was time to close the [city] gate at dark, the men left; I do not know where they went. Pursue them quickly, for [if you do] you will overtake them.” But [in fact] she had brought the scouts up to the roof and had hidden them under the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof [to dry]. So the [king’s] men pursued them on the road to the Jordan as far as the fords [east of Jericho]; as soon as the pursuers had gone out after them, the gate [of the city] was shut. Now before the two men lay down [to sleep], Rahab came up to them on the roof, and she said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror and dread of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted [in despair] because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan [on the east], to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. When we heard it, our hearts melted [in despair], and a [fighting] spirit no longer remained in any man because of you; for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. And now, please swear [an oath] to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father’s household (family), and give me a pledge of truth and faithfulness, and spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters, along with everyone who belongs to them, and let us all live.” So the men said to her, “Our lives for yours if you do not tell [anyone about] this business of ours; then when the Lord gives us the land we will show you kindness and faithfulness [and keep our agreement with you].” Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall, so that she was living on the wall. And she said to them, “Go [west] to the hill country, so that the pursuers [who have headed east] will not encounter you; hide yourselves there for three days until the pursuers return. Then afterward you can go your way.” The men said to her, “We shall be blameless and free from this oath which you have made us swear, unless, when we come into the land, you tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you let us down, and bring into the house your father and your mother and your brothers and all your father’s household [so that they will be safe]. But if anyone goes out the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head [that is, his own responsibility], and we shall be blameless and free [from our oath]; however, if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head. But if you tell [anyone] this business of ours, we shall be blameless and free from the oath which you made us swear.” She said, “According to your words, so be it.” Then Rahab sent them off, and they departed; and she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a brave warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah.

Then Samson went to Gaza and saw a prostitute there, and went in to her.

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and have children of [her] prostitution; for the land commits great acts of prostitution by not following the Lord.”

Now in that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the prostitute’s song:
Take a harp, walk around the city,
O forgotten prostitute;
Play the strings skillfully, sing many songs,
That you may be remembered. It will come to pass at the end of seventy years that the Lord will remember Tyre. Then she will return to her prostitute’s wages and will play the [role of a] prostitute [by trading] with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.

How the faithful city has become a prostitute [idolatrous, despicable],
She who was full of justice!
Right standing with God once lodged in her,
But now murderers.

“Upon a high and lofty mountain
You have [openly and shamelessly] made your [idolatrous and adulterous] bed;
Even there you went up to offer sacrifice [to idols, in spiritual unfaithfulness to Me].

“Behind the door and the doorpost
You have set up your [pagan] symbol;
Indeed, far removed from Me, you have uncovered yourself,
And have gone up and made your bed wide.
And you have made a [new] agreement for yourself with the adulterers,
You have loved their bed,
You have looked [with passion] on their manhood.

“You have gone to the king [of a pagan land] with oil
And increased your perfumes;
You have sent your messengers a great distance
And made them go down to Sheol (the realm of the dead).