So you were different from other women in your harlotries: Because the girl gave men gifts and did not take payment for having sex with them, she was different from other prostitutes. Contemporary English Version says “You’re not like other prostitutes,” and New Living Translation has “So you are the opposite of other prostitutes.”

None solicited you to play the harlot: Normally a woman becomes a prostitute when men solicit her, that is, offer to pay her to have sex with them, but no one came to this girl to ask her to have sex with him. Good News Translation renders this clause as “No one forced you to become one [a prostitute],” but a better model is “No one asked you to become a prostitute.”

And you gave hire, while no hire was given to you means the girl paid for sex, but did not receive payment from the men who had sex with her.

Therefore you were different: This summary stresses that she did not act like a normal prostitute; in fact, she was worse than a prostitute.

A model for this verse is:

• You were different from other prostitutes when you had sex with men. No one came to ask you for sex, but you went and asked them. The men you had sex with did not pay you, but you paid them. Your way of acting was the opposite of the way other prostitutes act.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .