"... Micah 1:7 can speak of Samaria’s idols that have been gathered “from the hire of a harlot” (compare also Isaiah 23:17–18). The concept of prostitution as a means to pay vows was so well known that the Greek translators of Proverbs 19:13 had recourse to it in elucidating a passage that otherwise remained obscure to them. Whereas the Hebrew text speaks of a wife’s quarreling, which is likened to “a continual dripping of rain,” the LXX talks about the unholy “votive gifts from the hire of a hetaera.” From a text-critical point of view the Masoretic Text is to be preferred, but the Greek rendering is revealing of the notoriety of the custom that interests us here ... Besides the attestations of incidental sexual promiscuity on the occasion of festivals, however, the Hebrew Bible also mentions a specific category of people who are generally considered to have been the “professionals” of “sacred” prostitution in ancient Israel. These are the qĕdēšîm, a term frequently rendered as “cult prostitutes.” Although the traditional understanding of this term has been challenged on the basis of the evidence concerning the Ugaritic qdšm, the parallelism between qĕdēšâ and zônâ in Genesis 38 and Deuteronomy 23:18–19 favors the idea that the qĕdēšîm engaged primarily in sexual activities. The Ugaritic qdšm seem to have consisted of non-priestly temple personnel dedicated to a deity. They were free to marry and have children and could be released from their service by a royal decree. The situation of the Israelite qĕdēšîm may, to some extent, have been similar ..."

Van der Toorn, Karel God in Context: Selected Essays on Society and Religion in the Early Middle East (pp. 93-95) Mohr Siebeck, 2018