² tn Heb “prostituted themselves after.”

⁸ tn Heb “to a house of a prostitute.”

¹ tn Heb “and all her prostitute’s wages will be burned with fire.”

³ tn Heb “and she will return to her [prostitute’s] wages and engage in prostitution with all the kingdoms of the earth on the face of the earth.”

³ tn Heb “But you have played the prostitute with many lovers.”

¹ tn Heb “you have the forehead of a prostitute.”

¹ tn Heb “the house of the woman, the prostitute.”

³ tn Heb “and also look, she is with child by prostitution.”

⁵ tn Heb “for from a prostitute’s wages she gathered, and to a prostitute’s wages they will return.” When the metal was first collected it was comparable to the coins a prostitute would receive for her services. The metal was then formed into idols, but now the Lord’s fiery judgment would reduce the metal images to their original condition.

¹ sn The precious metal used by Samaria’s pagan worship centers to make idols is compared to a prostitute’s wages because Samaria had been unfaithful to the Lord and prostituted herself to pagan gods such as Baal.

¹ tn Here the Hebrew term זוֹנָה (zonah) refers to a noncultic (i.e., “secular”) female prostitute; see note on the phrase “sacred prostitute” in v. 17.

¹ tn The adjective “spiritual” has been supplied in the translation to clarify that this is not a reference to literal prostitution, but figuratively compares idolatry to prostitution.

² tn Heb “The nakedness of your prostitution will be exposed, and your obscene conduct and your harlotry.”

¹ tn Heb “With you it was opposite of women in your prostitution.”

⁴ tn Heb “you sprawled as a prostitute on….” The translation reflects the meaning of the metaphor.

¹ tn Heb “a man.” Here “man” is retained in the translation because the second colon mentions prostitutes.

¹ tc The Old Greek translation has “a conspiracy” rather than “male cultic prostitutes.”

¹ tn Heb “Now he was the son of a woman, a prostitute, and Gilead fathered Jephthah.”

¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “sacred prostitute” here (קְדֵשָׁה [q^edeshah], 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).

² sn The Hebrew noun translated “cult prostitute” is derived from a verb meaning “to be set apart; to be distinct.” Thus the term refers to a woman who did not marry, but was dedicated to temple service as a cult prostitute. The masculine form of this noun is used for male cult prostitutes. Judah thought he had gone to an ordinary prostitute (v. 15), but Hirah went looking for a cult prostitute, perhaps because it had been a sheep-shearing festival. For further discussion see E. M. Yamauchi, “Cultic Prostitution,” Orient and Occident (AOAT), 213-23.