Leviticus 21:9

9 “ ‘If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she must be burned in the fire.

Leviticus 21:9 in Other Translations

9 And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.

9 And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.

9 “If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she also defiles her father’s holiness, and she must be burned to death.

9 "If a priest's daughter defiles herself in prostitution, she disgraces her father. She must be burned at the stake.

9 If a priest's daughter defiles herself by promiscuity, she defiles her father; she must be burned up.

Leviticus 21:9 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 21:9

And the daughter of any priest
The Targum of Jonathan restrains it to one that is betrothed; but others, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra, whether betrothed or married; and all confess, as the former says, that the Scripture does not speak of one that is single or entirely free: but there is no exception in the text; and besides, the daughter of any man that was betrothed to a man, and guilty of the crime here spoken of, was to die, ( Deuteronomy 22:23 Deuteronomy 22:24 ) ; and therefore such a law respecting the priest's daughter would be needless; unless it can be thought that it was made merely for the sake of the different kind of death she was to be put to, and that burning was a more terrible one than stoning: if she profane herself by playing the whore;
which brings scandal and disgrace on any person, and much more on anyone that had the honour of being related to a person in such a sacred office, and the advantage of a more strictly religious education, and had eaten of the holy things in her father's house; all which were aggravations of her crime, and made it the more scandalous and reproachful to her: some render it, "when she begins to play the whore" ^F2; as soon as ever it is discovered in her, and she is taken in it; even for the first that she commits, she is not to be spared, but put to death: she profaneth her father:
which is another aggravation of her sin; she brings him under disgrace, disparages his office, and exposes him to censure, reproach, and ridicule, as not having taken care of her education, and taught her better, and kept her under restraints; men will upbraid him with it, saying, this is a priest's daughter that has committed this lewdness; nor will say of him, as Jarchi observes, cursed be he that begat her, and cursed be he that brought her up: she shall be burnt with fire;
not with hot melted lead poured down her mouth, but with faggots set about her; (See Gill on Leviticus 20:14); no punishment is here fixed for the person that lay with her, but, according to the Jewish canons ^F3, she was to be strangled.

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 (twnzl lxt yk) "cum coepit fornicari", Pagninus, Montanus; so Tigurine version.
F3 Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 10. sect. 1. Maimon. Issure Biah, c. 1. sect. 6.

Leviticus 21:9 In-Context

7 “ ‘They must not marry women defiled by prostitution or divorced from their husbands, because priests are holy to their God.

8 Regard them as holy, because they offer up the food of your God. Consider them holy, because I the LORD am holy—I who make you holy.

9 “ ‘If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she must be burned in the fire.

10 “ ‘The high priest, the one among his brothers who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments, must not let his hair become unkempt or tear his clothes.

11 He must not enter a place where there is a dead body. He must not make himself unclean, even for his father or mother,

Cross References

• 1. S Genesis 38:24; S Leviticus 19:29