And even give some of it to the harlots in the brothel: Harlots in the brothel is almost surely wrong. New Revised Standard Version has “prostitutes on the terrace.” The Greek actually has “prostitutes on the rooftop.” The sense here is clarified by a passage from the sixth-century B.C. Greek historian Herodotus (k The Persian Warsk* 1.181). He describes a tower-like structure in Babylon that was eight stories high. In the topmost story was a bed, and a woman who represented the wife of a Babylonian god. Our text is referring to a rite of prostitution that took place on a rooftop, but the rooftop is not the important point. The point is that the women referred to in this verse were almost surely participants in the prostitution that was part of sacred ritual. That is what should come across, and “temple prostitutes” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) says it about as concisely as possible in English (compare 2 Kgs 23.7). Another way to render this clause is “and even give some of the gold and silver to the women who allowed their bodies to be used in the worship of the gods.”

They deck their gods out with garments: This means, as Good News Translation has it, “[they] put clothes on them,” but the Greek verb here suggests a bit of finery. (The verb uses the same root as in the adjective used to describe the “jewelry-loving” girl of verse 9.) To “dress up” (Contemporary English Version) rather than simply “dress” is legitimate in this context. So Contemporary English Version has “People dress up their idols.” The Revised Standard Version footnote here simply tells the reader that the Greek text has the pronoun “them” rather than their gods.

Like men: Men means “human beings” here. It does not mean that the gods were dressed like men as opposed to women. Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version correctly say “as if they were human.”

These gods of silver and gold and wood may be rendered “these idols that people have made out of silver and gold and wood” or “even though they are nothing but chunks of silver or gold or wood” (Contemporary English Version).

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.