Leviticus 19:29

29 "Do not debase[a] your daughter by making her a prostitute,[b] or the land will be prostituted and filled with depravity.

Leviticus 19:29 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 19:29

Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore,
&c.] Not by delaying to marry her, which is the sense the Jews give {l}, but it refers to a wicked practice among the Phoenicians or Canaanites, Athanasius F13 speaks of, whose women used to prostitute themselves in the temples of their idols; and to such filthy services, in a religious way, the Israelites, in imitation of them, are forbid to expose their daughters: such filthy practices, under a notion of religion, were committed at Babylon, Corinth, and other places; (See Gill on Micah 1:7); lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness:
of the wickedness of whoredom, both corporeal and spiritual, fornication and idolatry; both of which would be promoted by such abominable practices, and in process of time the land be filled with them.


FOOTNOTES:

F12 Targ. Jon. in loc. T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 76. 1.
F13 Contra Gentes, p. 21.

Leviticus 19:29 In-Context

27 You are not to cut off the hair at the sides of your head or mar the edge of your beard.
28 You are not to make gashes on your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves; I am the Lord.
29 "Do not debase your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will be prostituted and filled with depravity.
30 You must keep My Sabbaths and revere My sanctuary; I am the Lord.
31 "Do not turn to mediums or consult spiritists, or you will be defiled by them; I am the Lord your God.

Footnotes 2

Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.