Sifrei Devarim 261

¹(Devarim 23:19) "You shall not bring the hire of a prostitute and the exchange of a dog into the house of the L-rd your G-d for every vow": "You shall not bring the hire of a prostitute": This tells me of the hire of a prostitute. Whence do we derive (the same for) the hire of all of the arayoth (illicit relations)? From "for the abomination " — in any event. And which is "the hire of a prostitute"? Saying to a prostitute "Take this (lamb) for your hire" — even (if he sent her) one hundred, they are all forbidden. If one says to his neighbor: Take this lamb and let your (Canaanite) maidservant lie with my (unmarried Hebrew) manservant — Rebbi says: This is not hire; the sages say: It is hire. ²"and the exchange of a dog": What is "the exchange of a dog"? Saying to one's neighbor: Take this lamb for this dog, (in which instance the lamb may not be dedicated to the Temple). I might think that if he walked it (i.e., the beast given as a harlot's hire) into the azarah (the Temple court), he is liable, it is, therefore written "for the abomination of the L-rd." It is written here "abomination," and elsewhere (relative to the interdict against sacrificing blemished animals) ( Ibid . 17:1) "abomination." Just as there, sacrifice (is interdicted), so, here, sacrifice (and not merely entry is interdicted). ³"for every vow ": to exclude what has already been vowed. "for every vow": to include (the harlot's hire as interdicted even for) a bamah (a temporary altar). ⁴"into the house of the L-rd your G-d" to exclude (from the interdict) the bullock of the sin-offering, (i.e., the red heifer, which is not brought into the Temple, but is slaughtered outside the encampment [viz. Bamidbar 19:3]). These are the words of R. Eliezer. The sages say: to include (as interdicted) gold-foil (for the Temple). ⁵"for every vow": to include (as interdicted) (even) a bird. For I would think: If sacrificial offerings, which are invalidated by blemishes, are not subject to "hire" and "exchange," then birds, which are not invalidated by blemishes — how much more so should they not be subject to "hire" and "exchange." It is, therefore, written "for every vow," to include birds. I might think that (also interdicted is) the hire (that he gives the harlot) for abstention (from remunerative labor for the time period required for the act); it is, therefore, written "for the abomination of the L-rd" (i.e., the hire forbidden is that for the act itself). ⁶"the very two (the hire of a prostitute and the exchange of a dog)": two and not four (i.e., the hire of a dog and the exchange of a prostitute are permitted) "the very two of them " — they (are interdicted) and not their offspring.