John Gill Commentary Genesis 38:21

"Then he asked the men of her place, saying, Where is the prostitute, that was at Enaim by the wayside? And they said, There hath been no prostitute here." — Genesis 38:21 (ASV)

Then he asked the men of that place Or "of her place" {d}, of the woman's place, supposing that she dwelt somewhere thereabout: saying, where [is] the harlot that [was] openly by the wayside ? that sat there very publicly some little time ago:

The word for "harlot" ^F5 comes from another, which signifies to sanctify or separate to holy uses; and harlots were so called, either by an antiphrasis, by way of contradiction, being unholy; or because, as Jarchi observes, they were separated and destined to whoredom; or because they were such as were devoted to Venus, and the worshippers of her, and prostitutes in her temple, and in the temples of other Heathen deities; but it is questionable whether such practices as yet were used;

and they said, there was no harlot in this [place] ; they had not known any harlot to frequent that place lately, and Tamar sat there so small a time as not to have been observed by them.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F5: (hvdqh)