| Leviticus 19:29
| Make not thy daughter a common strumpet, lest the land be defiled, and filled with wickedness.
| Strumpet, which was done formerly in the honour of idols. "They gave to Venus the prostitutions of their daughters." (St. Augustine, City of God 18:5.) "In Cyprus they lead the unmarried women to the sea-shore, in order to acquire a dowry by these means on certain stated days, as a libation to Venus." (Justin.) --- Such things were common in the East. See Lucian de dea Syr.; Strabo xvi. -- Joel 3:3, reproaches the Jews with prostituting their sons and daughters for bread; for there were also effeminate men among them. (3 Kings 14:24 and 4 Kings 23:7.) See Baruch 6:42 and Osee 4:14. (Calmet)
|