Leviticus 19:29

29 Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, that the land not become prostituted and full of 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 shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.
28 You shall not make any gashes in your flesh for the dead or tattoo any marks upon you: I am the Lord.
29 Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, that the land not become prostituted and full of depravity.
30 You shall keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.
31 Do not turn to mediums or wizards; do not seek them out, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.