TO PROSTITUTE oneself, to whore — the ordinary verb for selling sex, which the prophets then made the standard metaphor for Israel worshipping other gods. Numbers 25:1 is where the two senses sit on top of each other and cannot be separated: the people 'began to zanah with the daughters of Moab', and the next two verses are about sacrifices and bowing down. ⚠ Translations have to choose a register and the shelf splits between the blunt and the polite — 'commit whoredom' and 'commit harlotry' at the old end, 'indulge in sexual immorality' and «prostituirse» at the newer. This translation prints the blunt word, because the prophetic metaphor that grows out of this verse depends on it being blunt. → first discussed at Num 25:1