Zânâh — H2181

Definition

verb

to commit adultery (usually of the female, and less often of simple fornication, rarely of involuntary ravishment); figuratively, to commit idolatry (the Jewish people being regarded as the spouse of Jehovah)

1. to commit fornication, be a harlot, play the harlot
1. (Qal)
1. to be a harlot, act as a harlot, commit fornication
2. to commit adultery
3. to be a cult prostitute
4. to be unfaithful (to God) (fig.)
2. (Pual) to play the harlot
3. (Hiphil)
1. to cause to commit adultery
2. to force into prostitution
3. to commit fornication

Usually translated as

harlot, whoredom, whore, commit fornication, whorish, continually, great, go a-whoring

Origin

a primitive root (highly-fed and therefore wanton)

Greek equivalents

• ekporneúō (G1608)
• empórion (G1712)
• porneúō (G4203)
• pórnē (G4204)

Occurrences

Zânâh occurs 87 times in 76 verses of the King James.

Distribution of the word across the Bible: Genesis (1), Exodus (2), Leviticus (6), Numbers (2), Deuteronomy (3), Joshua (3), Judges (5), 1 Kings (1), 1 Chronicles (1), 2 Chronicles (2), Psalms (2), Proverbs (4), Isaiah (4), Jeremiah (6), Ezekiel (19), Hosea (11), Joel (1), Amos (1), Micah (1), Nahum (1)

• Genesis 34:31 — And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot (הַכְזוֹנָ֕ה)?
• Exodus 34:15 — Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring (וְזָנ֣וּ) after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;
• Exodus 34:16 — And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring (וְזָנ֣וּ) after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.
• Exodus 34:16 — And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring (וְהִזְנוּ֙) after their gods.
• Leviticus 17:7 — And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring (זֹנִ֖ים). This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations.
• Leviticus 19:29 — Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore (לְהַזְנוֹתָ֑הּ); lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness.
• Leviticus 19:29 — Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom (תִזְנֶ֣ה), and the land become full of wickedness.
• Leviticus 20:5 — Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring (הַזֹּנִ֣ים) after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people.
• Leviticus 20:5 — Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom (לִזְנ֛וֹת) with Molech, from among their people.
• Leviticus 20:6 — And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring (לִזְנ֖וֹת) after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.
• Leviticus 21:7 — They shall not take a wife that is a whore (זֹנָ֤ה), or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: for he is holy unto his God.
• Leviticus 21:9 — And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore (לִזְנ֑וֹת), she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.
• Numbers 15:39 — And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring (זֹנִ֖ים):
• Numbers 25:1 — And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom (לִזְנ֖וֹת) with the daughters of Moab.
• Deuteronomy 22:21 — Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore (לִזְנ֖וֹת) in her father’s house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you.
• Deuteronomy 23:18 — Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore (זוֹנָ֜ה), or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.
• Deuteronomy 31:16 — And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring (וְזָנָ֣ה) after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.
• Joshua 6:17 — And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot (הַזּוֹנָ֜ה) shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.
• Joshua 6:22 — But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot’s (הַזּוֹנָ֑ה) house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her.
• Joshua 6:25 — And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot (הַ֠זּוֹנָה) 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 — And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring (זָנ֗וּ) after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so.
• Judges 8:27 — And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel went thither a whoring (וַיִּזְנ֧וּ) after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house.
• Judges 8:33 — And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring (וַיִּזְנ֖וּ) after Baalim, and made Baal-berith their god.
• Judges 11:1 — Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, and he was the son of an harlot (זוֹנָ֑ה): and Gilead begat Jephthah.
• Judges 19:2 — And his concubine played the whore (וַתִּזְנֶ֤ה) against him, and went away from him unto her father’s house to Beth-lehem-judah, and was there four whole months.
• 1 Kings 3:16 — Then came there two women, that were harlots (זֹנ֖וֹת), unto the king, and stood before him.
• 1 Chronicles 5:25 — And they transgressed against the God of their fathers, and went a whoring (וַיִּזְנ֗וּ) after the gods of the people of the land, whom God 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 fornication (וַיֶּ֙זֶן֙), and compelled Judah thereto.
• 2 Chronicles 21:13 — But hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring (וַתַּזְנֶ֤ה), like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father’s house, which were better than thyself:
• 2 Chronicles 21:13 — But hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms (כְּהַזְנ֖וֹת) of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father’s house, which were better than thyself:
• Psalms 73:27 — For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring (זוֹנֶ֥ה) from thee.
• Psalms 106:39 — Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring (וַ֝יִּזְנוּ֗) with their own inventions.
• Proverbs 6:26 — For by means of a whorish (זוֹנָ֗ה) woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.
• Proverbs 7:10 — And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot (ז֝וֹנָ֗ה), and subtil of heart.
• Proverbs 23:27 — For a whore (זוֹנָ֑ה) is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
• Proverbs 29:3 — Whoso loveth wisdom rejoiceth his father: but he that keepeth company with harlots (ז֝וֹנ֗וֹת) spendeth his substance.
• Isaiah 23:15 — And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot (הַזּוֹנָֽה).
• Isaiah 23:16 — Take an harp, go about the city, thou harlot (זוֹנָ֣ה) that hast been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou mayest be remembered.
• Isaiah 23:17 — And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication (וְזָֽנְתָ֛ה) with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth.
• Isaiah 57:3 — But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore (וַתִּזְנֶֽה).
• Jeremiah 2:20 — For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot (זֹנָֽה).
• Jeremiah 3:1 — They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot (זָנִית֙) with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD.
• Jeremiah 3:3 — Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore’s (זוֹנָה֙) forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.
• Jeremiah 3:6 — The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot (וַתִּזְנִי).
• Jeremiah 3:8 — And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot (וַתִּ֥זֶן) also.
• Jeremiah 5:7 — How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots (זוֹנָ֖ה)’ houses.
• Ezekiel 6:9 — And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish (הַזּוֹנֶ֗ה) heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
• Ezekiel 6:9 — And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring (הַזֹּנ֕וֹת) after their idols: and they shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
• Ezekiel 16:15 — But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot (וַתִּזְנִ֖י) because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.
• Ezekiel 16:16 — And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot (וַתִּזְנִ֖י) thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.