47 Bible Verses about Prostitution

Most Relevant Verses

Genesis 38:15-16

When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute because she had covered her face. He turned aside to her along the road and said, "Come on! I want to have sex with you." (He did not realize it was his daughter-in-law.) She asked, "What will you give me in exchange for having sex with you?"

Joshua 2:1

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

Joel 3:3

and they cast lots for my people. They traded a boy for a prostitute; they sold a little girl for wine so they could drink.

Genesis 38:21-22

He asked the men who were there, "Where is the cult prostitute who was at Enaim by the road?" But they replied, "There has been no cult prostitute here." So he returned to Judah and said, "I couldn't find her. Moreover, the men of the place said, 'There has been no cult prostitute here.'"

Job 36:14

They die in their youth, and their life ends among the male cultic prostitutes.

Leviticus 19:29

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

Deuteronomy 23:17-18

There must never be a sacred prostitute among the young women of Israel nor a sacred male prostitute among the young men of Israel. You must never bring the pay of a female prostitute or the wage of a male prostitute into the temple of the Lord your God in fulfillment of any vow, for both of these are abhorrent to the Lord your God.

Leviticus 21:7

They must not take a wife defiled by prostitution, nor are they to take a wife divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.

Genesis 38:24

After three months Judah was told, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar has turned to prostitution, and as a result she has become pregnant." Judah said, "Bring her out and let her be burned!"

Leviticus 21:9

If a daughter of a priest profanes herself by engaging in prostitution, she is profaning her father. She must be burned to death.

1 Kings 15:11-12

Asa did what the Lord approved like his ancestor David had done. He removed the male cultic prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the disgusting idols his ancestors had made.

1 Kings 22:45-46

The rest of the events of Jehoshaphat's reign, including his successes and military exploits, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. He removed from the land any male cultic prostitutes who had managed to survive the reign of his father Asa.

Proverbs 7:10

Suddenly a woman came out to meet him! She was dressed like a prostitute and with secret intent.

1 Kings 14:24

There were also male cultic prostitutes in the land. They committed the same horrible sins as the nations that the Lord had driven out from before the Israelites.

1 Kings 3:16

Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.

Jeremiah 5:7

The Lord asked, "How can I leave you unpunished, Jerusalem? Your people have rejected me and have worshiped gods that are not gods at all. Even though I supplied all their needs, they were like an unfaithful wife to me. They went flocking to the houses of prostitutes.

Hosea 4:13-14

They sacrifice on the mountaintops, and burn offerings on the hills; they sacrifice under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is so pleasant. As a result, your daughters have become cult prostitutes, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery! I will not punish your daughters when they commit prostitution, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery. For the men consort with harlots, they sacrifice with temple prostitutes. It is true: "A people that lacks understanding will come to ruin!"

Hosea 6:10

I have seen a disgusting thing in the temple of Israel: there Ephraim practices temple prostitution and Judah defiles itself.

Micah 1:7

All her carved idols will be smashed to pieces; all her metal cult statues will be destroyed by fire. I will make a waste heap of all her images. Since she gathered the metal as a prostitute collects her wages, the idols will become a prostitute's wages again."

Proverbs 6:25-27

Do not lust in your heart for her beauty, and do not let her captivate you with her alluring eyes; for on account of a prostitute one is brought down to a loaf of bread, but the wife of another man preys on your precious life. Can a man hold fire against his chest without burning his clothes?

Judges 16:1-2

Samson went to Gaza. There he saw a prostitute and went in to have sex with her. The Gazites were told, "Samson has come here!" So they surrounded the town and hid all night at the city gate, waiting for him to leave. They relaxed all night, thinking, "He will not leave until morning comes; then we will kill him!"

Proverbs 23:26-27

Give me your heart, my son, and let your eyes observe my ways; for a prostitute is like a deep pit; a harlot is like a narrow well.

Luke 15:30

But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!'

1 Corinthians 6:15-16

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that anyone who is united with a prostitute is one body with her? For it is said, "The two will become one flesh."

Matthew 21:31-32

Which of the two did his father's will?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, tax collectors and prostitutes will go ahead of you into the kingdom of God! For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe. Although you saw this, you did not later change your minds and believe him.

Luke 7:37-50

Then when a woman of that town, who was a sinner, learned that Jesus was dining at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfumed oil. As she stood behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. She wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the perfumed oil. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner."read more.
So Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." He replied, "Say it, Teacher." "A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed him five hundred silver coins, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?" Simon answered, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled." Jesus said to him, "You have judged rightly." Then, turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss of greeting, but from the time I entered she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfumed oil. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which were many, are forgiven, thus she loved much; but the one who is forgiven little loves little." Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this, who even forgives sins?" He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, the verbally abusive, and swindlers will not inherit the kingdom of God. Some of you once lived this way. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

James 2:25

And similarly, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another way?

Joshua 6:22-25

Joshua told the two men who had spied on the land, "Enter the prostitute's house and bring out the woman and all who belong to her as you promised her." So the young spies went and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and took them to a place outside the Israelite camp. But they burned the city and all that was in it, except for the silver, gold, and bronze and iron items they put in the treasury of the Lord's house.read more.
Yet Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, her father's family, and all who belonged to her. She lives in Israel to this very day because she hid the messengers Joshua sent to spy on Jericho.

Revelation 17:1-5

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke to me. "Come," he said, "I will show you the condemnation and punishment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality and the earth's inhabitants got drunk with the wine of her immorality." So he carried me away in the Spirit to a wilderness, and there I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.read more.
Now the woman was dressed in purple and scarlet clothing, and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup filled with detestable things and unclean things from her sexual immorality. On her forehead was written a name, a mystery: "Babylon the Great, the Mother of prostitutes and of the detestable things of the earth."

Isaiah 23:15-17

At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the typical life span of a king. At the end of seventy years Tyre will try to attract attention again, like the prostitute in the popular song: "Take the harp, go through the city, forgotten prostitute! Play it well, play lots of songs, so you'll be noticed!" At the end of seventy years the Lord will revive Tyre. She will start making money again by selling her services to all the earth's kingdoms.

Nahum 3:4

"Because you have acted like a wanton prostitute -- a seductive mistress who practices sorcery, who enslaves nations by her harlotry, and entices peoples by her sorcery --

Deuteronomy 31:16

Then the Lord said to Moses, "You are about to die, and then these people will begin to prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land into which they are going. They will reject me and break my covenant that I have made with them.

Exodus 34:15-16

Be careful not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone invites you, you will eat from his sacrifice; and you then take his daughters for your sons, and when his daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will make your sons prostitute themselves to their gods as well.

Leviticus 20:5

I myself will set my face against that man and his clan. I will cut off from the midst of their people both him and all who follow after him in spiritual prostitution, to commit prostitution by worshiping Molech.

Judges 2:17

But they did not obey their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned aside from the path their ancestors had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord's commands, but they did not.

Judges 8:27

Gideon used all this to make an ephod, which he put in his hometown of Ophrah. All the Israelites prostituted themselves to it by worshiping it there. It became a snare to Gideon and his family.

1 Chronicles 5:25

But they were unfaithful to the God of their ancestors and worshiped instead the gods of the native peoples whom God had destroyed before them.

Psalm 106:39

They were defiled by their deeds, and unfaithful in their actions.

Isaiah 1:21

How tragic that the once-faithful city has become a prostitute! She was once a center of justice, fairness resided in her, but now only murderers.

Ezekiel 16:16-17

You took some of your clothing and made for yourself decorated high places; you engaged in prostitution on them. You went to him to become his. You also took your beautiful jewelry, made of my gold and my silver I had given to you, and made for yourself male images and engaged in prostitution with them.

Ezekiel 23:1-35

The word of the Lord came to me: "Son of man, there were two women who were daughters of the same mother. They engaged in prostitution in Egypt; in their youth they engaged in prostitution. Their breasts were squeezed there; lovers fondled their virgin nipples there.read more.
Oholah was the name of the older and Oholibah the name of her younger sister. They became mine, and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria and Oholibah is Jerusalem. "Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians -- warriors clothed in blue, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. She bestowed her sexual favors on them; all of them were the choicest young men of Assyria. She defiled herself with all whom she desired -- with all their idols. She did not abandon the prostitution she had practiced in Egypt; for in her youth men had sex with her, fondled her virgin breasts, and ravished her. Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted. They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and killed her with the sword. She became notorious among women, and they executed judgments against her. "Her sister Oholibah watched this, but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution were more numerous than those of her sister. She lusted after the Assyrians -- governors and officials, warriors in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. I saw that she was defiled; both of them followed the same path. But she increased her prostitution. She saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans carved in bright red, wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, the image of Babylonians whose native land is Chaldea. When she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. The Babylonians crawled into bed with her. They defiled her with their lust; after she was defiled by them, she became disgusted with them. When she lustfully exposed her nakedness, I was disgusted with her, just as I had been disgusted with her sister. Yet she increased her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution in the land of Egypt. She lusted after their genitals -- as large as those of donkeys, and their seminal emission was as strong as that of stallions. This is how you assessed the obscene conduct of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled your nipples and squeezed your young breasts. "Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look here, I am about to stir up against you the lovers with whom you were disgusted; I will bring them against you from every side: the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, all of them governors and officials, officers and nobles, all of them riding on horses. They will attack you with weapons, chariots, wagons, and with a huge army; they will array themselves against you on every side with large shields, small shields, and helmets. I will assign them the task of judgment; they will punish you according to their laws. I will direct my jealous anger against you, and they will deal with you in rage. They will cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors will die by the sword. They will seize your sons and daughters, and your survivors will be consumed by fire. They will strip your clothes off you and take away your beautiful jewelry. So I will put an end to your obscene conduct and your prostitution which you have practiced in the land of Egypt. You will not seek their help or remember Egypt anymore. "For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look here, I am about to deliver you over to those whom you hate, to those with whom you were disgusted. They will treat you with hatred, take away all you have labored for, and leave you naked and bare. Your nakedness will be exposed, just as when you engaged in prostitution and obscene conduct. I will do these things to you because you engaged in prostitution with the nations, polluting yourself with their idols. You have followed the ways of your sister, so I will place her cup of judgment in your hand. "This is what the sovereign Lord says: "You will drink your sister's deep and wide cup; you will be scorned and derided, for it holds a great deal. You will be overcome by drunkenness and sorrow. The cup of your sister Samaria is a cup of horror and desolation. You will drain it dry, gnaw its pieces, and tear out your breasts, for I have spoken, declares the sovereign Lord. "Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because you have forgotten me and completely disregarded me, you must bear now the punishment for your obscene conduct and prostitution."

Hosea 4:10-12

They will eat, but not be satisfied; they will engage in prostitution, but not increase in numbers; because they have abandoned the Lord by pursuing other gods. Old and new wine take away the understanding of my people. They consult their wooden idols, and their diviner's staff answers with an oracle. The wind of prostitution blows them astray; they commit spiritual adultery against their God.

Hosea 5:4

Their wicked deeds do not allow them to return to their God; because a spirit of idolatry controls their heart, and they do not acknowledge the Lord.

From Thematic Bible


Prostitution » Forbidden

Leviticus 19:29

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

Deuteronomy 23:17

There must never be a sacred prostitute among the young women of Israel nor a sacred male prostitute among the young men of Israel.

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