Deuteronomy 7:14

7:14 You will be blessed beyond all peoples; there will be no barrenness ¹  among you or your livestock.

Deuteronomy 23:17

Purity in Cultic Personnel

23:17 There must never be a sacred prostitute ²  among the young women ³  of Israel nor a sacred male prostitute ⁴  among the young men ⁵  of Israel.

Deuteronomy 28:44

28:44 They will lend to you but you will not lend to them; they will become the head and you will become the tail!

[7:14]  ¹ sn One of the ironies about the promises to the patriarchs concerning offspring was the characteristic barrenness of the wives of the men to whom these pledges were made (cf. Gen 11:30; 25:21; 29:31). Their affliction is in each case described by the very Hebrew word used here (עֲקָרָה, ’aqarah), an affliction that will no longer prevail in Canaan.

[23:17]  ² tn The Hebrew term translated “sacred prostitute” here (קְדֵשָׁה [qÿdeshah], from קַדֵשׁ [qadesh, “holy”]; cf. NIV “shrine prostitute”; NASB “cult prostitute”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “temple prostitute”) refers to the pagan fertility cults that employed female and male prostitutes in various rituals designed to evoke agricultural and even human fecundity (cf. Gen 38:21-22; 1 Kgs 14:24; 15:12; 22:47; 2 Kgs 23:7; Hos 4:14). The Hebrew term for a regular, noncultic (i.e., “secular”) female prostitute is זוֹנָה (zonah).

[23:17]  ³ tn Heb “daughters.”

[23:17]  ⁴ tn The male cultic prostitute was called קָדֵשׁ (qadesh; see note on the phrase “sacred prostitute” earlier in this verse). The colloquial Hebrew term for a “secular” male prostitute (i.e., a sodomite) is the disparaging epithet כֶּלֶב (kelev, “dog”) which occurs in the following verse (cf. KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB).

[23:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “sons.”