A CONSECRATED WOMAN — from qadosh, 'holy,' the same root as sanctuary and saint. Traditionally understood as a cult or shrine prostitute attached to a temple, though the evidence outside the Bible is thinner and more disputed than confident commentaries admit, and some scholars doubt the institution existed in the form usually described. What is beyond dispute is the social register in Genesis 38: the narrator calls the veiled woman a zonah, a common prostitute (38:15), but when Hirah has to ask the locals for directions on his friend's behalf he says qedeshah (38:21) — the dignified term. The shelf splits four ways: KJV flattens both to 'harlot'; NIV 'shrine prostitute' and NWT 'temple prostitute' commit to the cultic reading; ASV keeps a distinction and flags the Hebrew in the margin. This translation renders 'consecrated woman' — near what the word says, without settling an institution the evidence won't settle. → first discussed at Gen 38:21