Word study

Prostitute

4 Hebrew and 1 Greek words behind this English word

The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: prostitute, prostituted, prostitutes, prostituting. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.

At a glance

How often each original word is translated “prostitute” or one of its forms.

Compare the Hebrew words side by side

Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)

  • זָנָה zânâhcommit fornication, be a harlottranslated this way 61 times of its 89 uses · Strong’s H2181Verb  ·  Translated: prostitute 29, prostituted 16, prostitutes 7, harlot 5

    Genesis 34:31 But they replied, “Should he have treated our sister like a prostitute?”

    Exodus 34:15 Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices.

    Full study and all 81 verses →
  • קָדֵשׁ qâdêshtemple-prostitutetranslated this way 6 times of its 6 uses · Strong’s H6945Adjective  ·  Translated: male shrine prostitutes 5, shrine prostitute 1

    Deuteronomy 23:17 No daughter or son of Israel is to be a shrine prostitute.

    1 Kings 14:24 There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land. They imitated all the abominations of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.

    Full study and all 6 verses →
  • קְדֵשָׁה qedêshâhfemale devoteetranslated this way 4 times of its 4 uses · Strong’s H6948Adjective  ·  Translated: shrine prostitute 3, shrine prostitutes 1

    Genesis 38:21 He asked the men of that place, “Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?” “No shrine prostitute has been here,” they answered.

    Hosea 4:14 I will not punish your daughters when they prostitute themselves, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery. For the men themselves go off with prostitutes and offer sacrifices with shrine prostitutes. So a people without understanding will come to ruin.

    Full study and all 3 verses →
  • אִשָּׁה ishshâhwoman, wife, femaletranslated this way 2 times of its 711 uses · Strong’s H802Noun  ·  Translated: wife 251, woman 172, wives 92, women 88Full study and all 638 verses →

Greek words (New Testament)

  • πόρνη pórnēa prostitutetranslated this way 12 times of its 12 uses · Strong’s G4204Noun  ·  Translated: prostitute 8, prostitutes 4

    Matthew 21:31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.

    Luke 15:30 But when this son of yours returns from squandering your wealth with prostitutes, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

    Full study and all 12 verses →
How to study a word well
  1. Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
  2. Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
  3. Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
  4. Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
  5. See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
  6. Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
  7. Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.

Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.