Some months ago I chatted with someone about the change of porneia to fornicatio. I can’t find the information I received from you now.
A friend of mine wrote a book stating the change of wording changed the meaning totally. That porneia only applied the the temple prostitutes, and that fornicatio expanded the implications of the word and changed the original meaning.
I believe Christy Hemphill.he has since began a podcast discussing how this changes how we look at sexual sin. He says the Bible has errors.
Here is part of the book:
Jerome of Stridon was a Christian Priest and Theologian, born around 340 A.D. He wrote “Do you imagine that we approve of any sexual intercourse except for the procreation of children? He who is too ardent a lover of his own wife is an adulterer.” He believed that “woman is the root of all evil,” that all sex is impure, and abstinence is the highest mark of the Christian. While those biases may or may not have had an impact on his translations, they are definitely interesting to note. In A.D. 380, Roman Catholicism became the official religion of the Roman Empire. For the next 1000+ years, if you weren’t Catholic, you weren’t Christian. Guess who translated the scriptures used by the Catholic church? Bingo… Jerome. He started in A.D. 382, and once he was done, the Vulgate became the official Bible of the Christian (Catholic) church.
The “sexual immorality” translation problem started when Jerome took the Greek word “porneia” (and its variants) and translated it into the latin word “fornicatio” (and its variants). The original meaning of fornicatio is “arch or vault.” This was symbolic of the archways at the temples and altars where temple prostitutes practiced their trade. Fornicatio was understood to be referring to the prostitution which occurred at the temples of various gods. It later came to mean “prostitution” in general, and even later became “sexual activity outside of marriage.” Unfortunately, as the definition of fornicatio changed, the translation of the porneia words did not. Therefore, when scripture was translated into English more than one thousand years of tradition later, the word porneia started being translated as “fornication, unchastity, and sexual immorality.”
As a result, when English speaking pastors, churches, and leaders teach today, they say that all sexual activity outside of marriage is wrong. They believe God considers it abominable, because scripture “clearly” says so. In actuality, what God is saying through scripture is that the worship of false gods through sexual prostitution is idolatry, and He HATES idolatry. It takes the acknowledgement of Him away and gives credit to something that doesn’t exist. In essence, it is His Church cheating on Him. His bride is committing adultery by turning to false gods.
When the authors of the New Testament used the word porneia, they knew what it meant. But how do WE know what it meant? Is there a better way for us in the 21st century to understand what was written in the 1st century? I’m so glad you asked. The answer is yes. You see, by the time the Roman empire took over, the Jewish people were speaking Greek in many cities. It became an issue because they could no longer fully understand what they were reading in synagogues. In the mid 3rd century B.C., King Ptolemy of Egypt sent word to Jerusalem that they needed scribes to come translate the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek so that people could read it. In answer to this request, 72 Hebrew scribes (6 from each tribe of Israel) were sent to Alexandria to translate the Torah (first 5 books of the OT) into Greek. Over the next century, other Hebrew translators completed the rest of the Old Testament. The result is what became known as the Septuagint, or LXX (70), which is a shout-out to the number of scribes that did the translations.
What does this mean for us? Well, the disciples and Jesus himself, used the Septuagint more often than not when teaching in synagogues as well as when quoting the Old Testament. The majority of Old Testament quotes in the New Testament are direct quotes from the Septuagint, and not from the Hebrew. Think of it this way: When your pastor preaches, he uses an English translation to get his message across, because that’s what you speak. If he used Hebrew, it wouldn’t have the same effect on you, because you wouldn’t understand. For the same reason, Jesus and his disciples used the Septuagint often, because Greek was the language of their audience.
Knowing the above, the Septuagint is a fantastic resource for us to figure out what Greek words meant at the time the New Testament authors used them. Words have a tendency to change over time (take the Latin word fornicatio or the English word gay for two examples). However, we know that the disciples, Jesus, and Paul all used the Septuagint, so we know that by finding the meaning of a Greek word there, we know exactly what that word meant when the New Testament authors wrote their books. Genius, right!? So, let’s get started. I will warn you though, that you will probably end up skipping a lot of what follows. It does get a bit redundant, because – spoiler alert – as it turns out, porneia only had one real meaning.
Below, I will show the ways porneia was used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament. I will give you the Old Testament scripture reference, followed by the English translation (ESV) with the English translation of the porneia word in bold. Following that will be a clarifier if needed (such as the English translation of the Septuagint). Finally, I will show you how the porneia word should truly be translated/interpreted. You will see that while the church currently translates porneia into “sexual immorality,” a more accurate translation would be “sexual idolatry.”
Knowing that most of you won’t make it through the below list, I’m going to go ahead and conclude right here. If you want to know how this new (to us anyway) definition of porneia affects the message of the New Testament, please read my book! It can be found here:
I will also post the below information in spreadsheet form on the “Resources” tab of this website.
Genesis 34:31 - But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”
True translation: Prostitute
Genesis 38:15 - When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.
Clarification: Judah thought Tamar was a temple prostitute, see Genesis 38:21
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry
Genesis 38:21 - And he asked the men of the place, “Where is the cult prostitute who was at Enaim at the roadside?” And they said, “No cult prostitute has been here.”
Clarification: Hebrew word here is qedesa, and means “temple prostitute.” The fact that porne was used in its place implies that all uses of porne can suggest a temple (or cult) prostitute.
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry
Genesis 38:22 - So he returned to Judah and said, “I have not found her. Also, the men of the place said, ‘No cult prostitute has been here.’”
Clarification: Hebrew word here is qedesa, and means “temple prostitute.” The fact that porne was used in its place implies that all uses of porne can suggest a temple (or cult) prostitute.
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry
Genesis 38:24 - About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has been immoral. Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality.”And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.”
Clarification: Judah thought Tamar was a temple prostitute, see Genesis 38:21. Also, the Hebrew word here (zana) means “harlot” and “harlotry.”
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry
Exodus 34:15 - lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice,
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry
Exodus 34:16 - and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry
Leviticus 17:7 - So they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to goat demons, after whom they whore. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry
Leviticus 19:29 - “Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity.
Clarification: Likely cult prostitution, due to mention of omens, fortune tellers, mediums, and necromancers
True translation: Prostitute
Leviticus 20:5 - then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in whoring after Molech.
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry
Leviticus 20:6 - “If a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry
Leviticus 21:7 - They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.
True translation: Prostitute
Leviticus 21:9 - And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.
Clarification: Likely cult prostitution.
True translation: Prostitute
Leviticus 21:14 - A widow, or a divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute, these he shall not marry. But he shall take as his wife a virgin of his own people.
True translation: Prostitute
Numbers 14:33 - And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness.
True translation: Idolatry
Numbers 15:39 - And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after.
True translation: Idolatry
Numbers 25:1 - While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab.
Clarification: Numbers 25:2: “These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.”
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry
Deuteronomy 22:21 - then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done an outrageous thing in Israel by whoring in her father’s house. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
Clarification: Likely cult prostitution
True translation: Prostitute
Deuteronomy 23:2 - “No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD.
Clarification: English translation of Septuagint: “of a harlot shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord.”
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry
Deuteronomy 23:17 - “None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, and none of the sons of Israel shall be a cult prostitute.
Clarification: Hebrew words here are qedesa (feminine) and qades (masculine) and mean “temple prostitute.” The fact that porne was used in their place implies that all uses of porne can suggest a temple (or cult) prostitute.
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry
Deuteronomy 23:18 - You shall not bring the fee of a prostitute or the wages of a dog into the house of the LORD your God in payment for any vow, for both of these are an abomination to the LORD your God.
Clarification: Hebrew word for “dog” here is “keleb” and means “male cult prostitute”
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry
Deuteronomy 31:16 - And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them.
True translation: Idolatry
Joshua 2:1 - And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there.
True translation: Prostitute
Joshua 6:17 - And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the LORD for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent.
True translation: Prostitute
Joshua 6:23 - So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. And they brought all her relatives and put them outside the camp of Israel.
Clarification: The Septuagint Greek says “Rahab the prostitute” (porne).
True translation: Prostitute
Joshua 6:25 - But Rahab the prostitute and her father’s household and all who belonged to her, Joshua saved alive. And she has lived in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
True translation: Prostitute
Judges 2:15 - Whenever they marched out, the hand of the LORD was against them for harm, as the LORD had warned, and as the LORD had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.
Clarification: See 2:17 below
True translation: Idolatry
Judges 2:17 - Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the LORD, and they did not do so.
True translation: Idolatry
Judges 8:27 - And Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah. And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family.
True translation: Idolatry
Judges 8:33 - As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god.
True translation: Idolatry
Judges 11:1 - Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah.
Clarification: Likely a cult prostitute
True translation: Prostitute
Judges 16:1 - Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her.
True translation: Prostitute
1 Kings 3:16 - Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.
True translation: Prostitute
1 Kings 21:19 - And you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Have you killed and also taken possession?”’ And you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD: “In the place where dogs (keleb) licked up the blood of Naboth shall dogs (keleb) lick your own blood.”’”
Clarification: English translation of Septuagint: “In every place where the swine and the dogs have licked the blood of Nabuthai, there shall the dogs lick thy blood; and the harlots shall wash themselves in thy blood.” In Hebrew, “keleb” (dog) was a metaphor for a male cult prostitute.
True translation: Cult Prostitute
1 Kings 22:38 - And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs (keleb) licked up his blood, and the prostitutes washed themselves in it, according to the word of the LORD that he had spoken.
True translation: Cult Prostitute
2 Kings 9:22 - And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” He answered, “What peace can there be, so long as the whorings and the sorceries of your mother Jezebel are so many?”
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry
1 Chronicles 5:25 - But they broke faith with the God of their fathers, and whored after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.
True translation: Idolatry
2 Chronicles 21:11 - Moreover, he made high places in the hill country of Judah and led the inhabitants of Jerusalem into whoredom and made Judah go astray.
True translation: Idolatry
2 Chronicles 21:13 - but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel and have enticed Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem into whoredom, as the house of Ahab led Israel into whoredom, and also you have killed your brothers, of your father’s house, who were better than you,
True translation: Idolatry
Psalm 73:27 - For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
Clarification: English translation of Septuagint: “For, behold, they that remove themselves far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed every one that goes a whoring from thee.”
True translation: Idolatry
Psalm 106:39 - Thus they became unclean by their acts, and played the whore in their deeds.
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry
Proverbs 5:3 - For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil
Clarification: Most likely a cult prostitute given the use of porne in other passages
True translation: Adulteress
Proverbs 6:26 - for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts down a precious life.
Clarification: Most likely a cult prostitute given the use of porne in other passages
True translation: Prostitute
Proverbs 29:3 - He who loves wisdom makes his father glad, but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.
Clarification: Most likely a cult prostitute given the use of porne in other passages
True translation: Prostitute
Isaiah 1:21 - How the faithful city has become a whore, she who was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.
True translation: Idolatry
Isaiah 23:15 - In that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry/Materialism
Isaiah 23:16 - “Take a harp; go about the city, O forgotten prostitute! Make sweet melody; sing many songs, that you may be remembered.”
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry/Materialism
Isaiah 47:10 - You felt secure in your wickedness; you said, “No one sees me”; your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, “I am, and there is no one besides me.”
Clarification: English translation of Septuagint: for thy trusting in wickedness: for thou saidst, I am, and there is not another: know thou, the understanding of these things and thy harlotry shall be thy shame; for thou saidst in thy heart, I am, and there is not another.
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry
Isaiah 57:3 - But you, draw near, sons of the sorceress, offspring of the adulterer and the loose woman.
Clarification: Hebrew word here (zana) means “harlot or prostitute”
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry
Isaiah 57:9 - You journeyed to the king with oil and multiplied your perfumes; you sent your envoys far off, and sent down even to Sheol.
Clarification: English translation of Septuagint: and thou hast multiplied thy whoredom with them, and thou hast increased the number of them that are far from thee, and hast sent ambassadors beyond thy borders, and hast been debased even to hell.
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry
Jeremiah 2:20 - “For long ago I broke your yoke and burst your bonds; but you said, ‘I will not serve.’ Yes, on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed down like a whore.
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry
Jeremiah 3:1
Jeremiah 3:2 - Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been ravished? By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom.
Clarification: See Jeremiah 3:9 below
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry
Jeremiah 3:3 - Therefore the showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come; yet you have the forehead of a whore; you refuse to be ashamed.
Clarification: See Jeremiah 3:9 below
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry
Jeremiah 3:6 - The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore?
True translation: Cult Prostitute/Idolatry
Jeremiah 3:7 - And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not retu