Harlot

Harlot is an archaic term that means a woman prostitute.

William Hogarth's 1731 engraving of A Harlot's Progress is about a young woman, Mary Hackabout, who arrives in London from the country. Presumably she has come to look for work as a servant, but a procuress praises her beauty and suggests a more profitable occupation: prostitution.

Word History

The word harlot now refers to a prostitute, particularly a woman. In the past, however, it used to refer to a man. The word is first recorded in English in a work written around the beginning of the 13th century, meaning "a man of no fixed occupation, vagabond, beggar," and soon afterwards used to mean "male lecher." In the 14th century it began to be used to refer to women. How this meaning developed from the male sense is not clear. For a time the word could also refer to a juggler or jester of either sex, but by the close of the 17th century the word became exclusive to women.

Harlots in the Bible

The word "harlot" occurs 122 times in the New Kings James Version of the Bible. Some - NOT ALL - are listed below.

Exodus 34:15-16 - lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods, and one of them invites you and you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters play the harlot with their gods and make your sons play the harlot with their gods.

Leviticus 17:7 - They shall no more offer their sacrifices to demons, after whom they have played the harlot. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.”’

Leviticus 19:29 - ‘Do not prostitute your daughter, to cause her to be a harlot, lest the land fall into harlotry, and the land become full of wickedness.

Leviticus 20:5 - then I will set My face against that man and against his family; and I will cut him off from his people, and all who prostitute themselves with him to commit harlotry with Molech.

Leviticus 21:7 - They shall not take a wife who is a harlot or a defiled woman, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for the priest is holy to his God.

Leviticus 21:9 - The daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by playing the harlot, she profanes her father. She shall be burned with fire.

Leviticus 21:14 - A widow or a divorced woman or a defiled woman or a harlot—these he shall not marry; but he shall take a virgin of his own people as wife.

Numbers 15:39 - And you shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the LORD and do them, and that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined,

Numbers 25:1 - Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab.

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 a disgraceful thing in Israel, to play the harlot in her father’s house. So you shall put away the evil from among you.

Deuteronomy 23:17-18 - "There shall be no ritual harlot of the daughters of Israel, or a perverted one of the sons of Israel. You shall not bring the wages of a harlot or the price of a dog to the house of the LORD your God for any vowed offering, for both of these are an abomination to the LORD your God.

Deuteronomy 31:16 - And the LORD said to Moses: “Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them.

Jos 6:17 And the city shall be accursed, [even] it, and all that [are] therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that [are] with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.

Jos 6:25 And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, and her father's household, and all that she had; and she dwelleth in Israel [even] unto this day; because she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

Judges 2:17 - Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods, and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the LORD; they did not do so.

Judges 8:27 - Then Gideon made it into an ephod and set it up in his city, Ophrah. And all Israel played the harlot with it there. It became a snare to Gideon and to his house.

Judges 8:33 - So it was, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel again played the harlot with the Baals, and made Baal-Berith their god.

1 Chronicles 5:25 - And they were unfaithful to the God of their fathers, and played the harlot after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.

2 Chronicles 21:11 - Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit harlotry, and led Judah astray.

2 Chronicles 21:13 - but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot like the harlotry of the house of Ahab, and also have killed your brothers, those of your father’s household, who were better than yourself,

Psalm 73:27 - For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish;You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry.

Psalm 106:39 - Thus they were defiled by their own works, And played the harlot by their own deeds.

Proverbs 6:26 - For by means of a harlot A man is reduced to a crust of bread; And an adulteress will prey upon his precious life.

Proverbs 7:10 - And there a woman met him, With the attire of a harlot, and a crafty heart.

Proverbs 23:27 - For a harlot is a deep pit, And a seductress is a narrow well.

Proverbs 29:3 - Whoever loves wisdom makes his father rejoice, But a companion of harlots wastes his wealth.

Isaiah 1:21 - How the faithful city has become a harlot! It was full of justice; Righteousness lodged in it, But now murderers.

Isaiah 23:15 - Now it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot:

Isaiah 23:16 - "Take a harp, go about the city, You forgotten harlot; Make sweet melody, sing many songs, That you may be remembered."

Isaiah 57:3 - "But come here, You sons of the sorceress, You offspring of the adulterer and the harlot!

Jeremiah 2:20 - "For of old I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds; And you said, ‘I will not transgress,’ When on every high hill and under every green tree You lay down, playing the harlot.

Jeremiah 3:1 - [ Israel Is Shameless ] "They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife, And she goes from him And becomes another man’s, May he return to her again?’ Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; Yet return to Me," says the LORD.

Jeremiah 3:2 - "Lift up your eyes to the desolate heights and see: Where have you not lain with men? By the road you have sat for them Like an Arabian in the wilderness; And you have polluted the land With your harlotries and your wickedness.

Jeremiah 3:3 - Therefore the showers have been withheld, And there has been no latter rain. You have had a harlot’s forehead; You refuse to be ashamed.

Jeremiah 3:6 - [ A Call to Repentance ] The LORD said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: "Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot.

Jeremiah 3:8-9 - Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.

Jeremiah 5:7 - "How shall I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken Me And sworn by those that are not gods. When I had fed them to the full, Then they committed adultery And assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.

Jeremiah 13:27 - I have seen your adulteries And your lustful neighings, The lewdness of your harlotry, Your abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! Will you still not be made clean?

Ezekiel 6:9 - Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations where they are carried captive, because I was crushed by their adulterous heart which has departed from Me, and by their eyes which play the harlot after their idols; they will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations.

Ezekiel 16:15-17 - “But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it. You took some of your garments and adorned multicolored high places for yourself, and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor be. You have also taken your beautiful jewelry from My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them.

Ezekiel 16:20 - “Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter,

Ezekiel 16:22 - And in all your abominations and acts of harlotry you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, struggling in your blood.

Ezekiel 16:25-31 - You built your high places at the head of every road, and made your beauty to be abhorred. You offered yourself to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your acts of harlotry. You also committed harlotry with the Egyptians, your very fleshly neighbors, and increased your acts of harlotry to provoke Me to anger. You also played the harlot with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; indeed you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied. Moreover you multiplied your acts of harlotry as far as the land of the trader, Chaldea; and even then you were not satisfied. “How degenerate is your heart!” says the Lord GOD, “seeing you do all these things, the deeds of a brazen harlot. “You erected your shrine at the head of every road, and built your high place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned payment.

Ezekiel 16:33 - Men make payment to all harlots, but you made your payments to all your lovers, and hired them to come to you from all around for your harlotry.

Ezekiel 16:34-36 - You are the opposite of other women in your harlotry, because no one solicited you to be a harlot. In that you gave payment but no payment was given you, therefore you are the opposite.” 35 ‘Now then, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD! 36 Thus says the Lord GOD: “Because your filthiness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your harlotry with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children which you gave to them,

Ezekiel 16:41 - They shall burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women; and I will make you cease playing the harlot, and you shall no longer hire lovers.

Ezekiel 20:30 - Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Are you defiling yourselves in the manner of your fathers, and committing harlotry according to their abominations?

Ezekiel 23:1-2 - [ Two Harlot Sisters ] The word of the LORD came again to me, saying: 2 They committed harlotry in Egypt, They committed harlotry in their youth; Their breasts were there embraced, Their virgin bosom was there pressed.

Ezekiel 23:5 - [ The Older Sister, Samaria ] “ Oholah played the harlot even though she was Mine; And she lusted for her lovers, the neighboring Assyrians,

Ezekiel 23:7-8 - Thus she committed her harlotry with them, All of them choice men of Assyria; And with all for whom she lusted, With all their idols, she defiled herself. 8 She has never given up her harlotry brought from Egypt, For in her youth they had lain with her, Pressed her virgin bosom, And poured out their immorality upon her.

Ezekiel 23:11 - [ The Younger Sister, Jerusalem ] “Now although her sister Oholibah saw this, she became more corrupt in her lust than she, and in her harlotry more corrupt than her sister’s harlotry.

Ezekiel 23:14 - But she increased her harlotry; She looked at men portrayed on the wall, Images of Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion,

Ezekiel 23:18-19 - She revealed her harlotry and uncovered her nakedness. Then I alienated Myself from her, As I had alienated Myself from her sister. 19 “ Yet she multiplied her harlotry In calling to remembrance the days of her youth, When she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.

Ezekiel 23:27 - ‘ Thus I will make you cease your lewdness and your harlotry Brought from the land of Egypt, So that you will not lift your eyes to them, Nor remember Egypt anymore.’

Ezekiel 23:29-30 - They will deal hatefully with you, take away all you have worked for, and leave you naked and bare. The nakedness of your harlotry shall be uncovered, both your lewdness and your harlotry. 30 I will do these things to you because you have gone as a harlot after the Gentiles, because you have become defiled by their idols.

Ezekiel 23:35 - “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘ Because you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back, Therefore you shall bear the penaltyOf your lewdness and your harlotry.’”

Ezekiel 23:43-44 - Then I said concerning her who had grown old in adulteries, ‘Will they commit harlotry with her now, and she with them?’ 44 Yet they went in to her, as men go in to a woman who plays the harlot; thus they went in to Oholah and Oholibah, the lewd women.

Ezekiel 43:7 - And He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. No more shall the house of Israel defile My holy name, they nor their kings, by their harlotry or with the carcasses of their kings on their high places.

Ezekiel 43:9 - Now let them put their harlotry and the carcasses of their kings far away from Me, and I will dwell in their midst forever.

Hosea 1:2 - [ The Family of Hosea ] When the LORD began to speak by Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea:“ Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry And children of harlotry, For the land has committed great harlotry By departing from the LORD.”

Hosea 2:2 - [ God’s Unfaithful People ] “Bring charges against your mother, bring charges; For she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband! Let her put away her harlotries from her sight, And her adulteries from between her breasts;

Hosea 2:4-5 - “ I will not have mercy on her children, For they are the children of harlotry. 5 For their mother has played the harlot; She who conceived them has behaved shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, Who give me my bread and my water, My wool and my linen, My oil and my drink.’

Hosea 3:3 - And I said to her, “You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man—so, too, will I be toward you.”

Hosea 4:10-15 - For they shall eat, but not have enough; They shall commit harlotry, but not increase; Because they have ceased obeying the LORD. 11 [ The Idolatry of Israel ] “ Harlotry, wine, and new wine enslave the heart. 12 My people ask counsel from their wooden idols, And their staff informs them. For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray, And they have played the harlot against their God. 13 They offer sacrifices on the mountaintops, And burn incense on the hills, Under oaks, poplars, and terebinths, Because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters commit harlotry, And your brides commit adultery. 14 “ I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry, Nor your brides when they commit adultery; For the men themselves go apart with harlots, And offer sacrifices with a ritual harlot. Therefore people who do not understand will be trampled. 15 “ Though you, Israel, play the harlot, Let not Judah offend. Do not come up to Gilgal, Nor go up to Beth Aven, Nor swear an oath, saying, ‘As the LORD lives’—

Hosea 4:18 - Their drink is rebellion, They commit harlotry continually. Her rulers dearly love dishonor.

Hosea 5:3-4 - I know Ephraim, And Israel is not hidden from Me; For now, O Ephraim, you commit harlotry; Israel is defiled. 4 “ They do not direct their deeds Toward turning to their God, For the spirit of harlotry is in their midst, And they do not know the LORD.

Hosea 6:10 - I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel: There is the harlotry of Ephraim; Israel is defiled.

Hosea 9:1 - [Judgment of Israel’s Sin] Do not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples, For you have played the harlot against your God. You have made love for hire on every threshing floor.

Joel 3:3 - They have cast lots for My people, Have given a boy as payment for a harlot, And sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.

Amos 7:17 - “Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘ Your wife shall be a harlot in the city; Your sons and daughters shall fall by the sword; Your land shall be divided by survey line; You shall die in a defiled land; And Israel shall surely be led away captive From his own land.’”

Micah 1:7 - All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, And all her pay as a harlot shall be burned with the fire; All her idols I will lay desolate, For she gathered it from the pay of a harlot, And they shall return to the pay of a harlot.”

Nahum 3:4 - Because of the multitude of harlotries of the seductive harlot, The mistress of sorceries, Who sells nations through her harlotries, And families through her sorceries.

Revelation17: 1 And there came one of the seven angels who had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying to me, Come hither; I will show to thee the judgment of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters; 2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed lewd deeds, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her lewdness. 3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet-color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her lewdness: 5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS, AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. 7 And the angel said to me, Why didst thou wonder? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. 8 The beast that thou sawest, was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. 9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. 10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short time. 11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. 12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, who have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. 13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength to the beast. 14 These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. 15 And he saith to me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and languages. 16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. 18 And the woman whom thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

Revelation 19:2 - For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.

Harlots in Music

There is a reference to a harlot in the Iron Maiden song "Charlotte The Harlot" and is later mentioned in the song "22 Acacia Avenue" (The Continuing Saga of Charlotte The Harlot).

The song "Beast and the Harlot" by Avenged Sevenfold speaks of a harlot, possibly the one mentioned in Revelation 17.

Harlots is the name of a technical/progressive metal band out of the Bloomington Indiana and Dayton Ohio areas.

The band Rifles At Recess has a song named "Heroes Vs. Harlots" which also mentions harlots.

The band Behemoth has a song named "The Harlot of the Saints" which also mentions harlot.