The qdesha in Hosea 4:14: Putting the (Myth of the) Sacred Prostitute to Bed
Despite a lack of evidence for the practice of sacred prostitution in the ancient Middle East, scholars have continued to understand the word qdešɔ in Hosea 4:14 to denote a female officiant who performed sexual acts in a cultic setting. This article argues that the understanding of the qdešɔ as a c...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2018
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| In: |
Vetus Testamentum
Year: 2018, Volume: 68, Issue: 1, Pages: 8-40 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Bible. Hosea 4,14
/ Hebrew language
/ Noun
/ ḳedeshah
/ Prostitute
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| IxTheo Classification: | HB Old Testament NCF Sexual ethics |
| Further subjects: | B
Hebrew Bible
Hosea
prostitution
qdšh
qadištu
diachronic semantics
Hebrew lexicography
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | Despite a lack of evidence for the practice of sacred prostitution in the ancient Middle East, scholars have continued to understand the word qdešɔ in Hosea 4:14 to denote a female officiant who performed sexual acts in a cultic setting. This article argues that the understanding of the qdešɔ as a cultic prostitute has appealed to interpreters for over two millennia because the Hebrew word has a semantic range that includes both female cultic functionaries and prostitutes. The lexeme denotes a class of women who are employed outside of the patrimonial estate, including priestesses or prostitutes (but never both at the same time). When the prophet indicts the Israelites for sacrificing with qdešot, he deploys a pun that strengthens his metaphor of Israel as a wayward woman. |
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| Physical Description: | Online-Ressource |
| ISSN: | 1568-5330 |
| Contains: | In: Vetus Testamentum
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685330-12341300 |