Genesis 38:15

15. A harlot The word here used is זונה , the common Hebrew word for harlot . But Judah’s friend Hirah uses (Genesis 38:21) a different word, though our translators have rendered it just the same . There the Hebrew word is קדשׁה , a consecrated woman, that is, a woman consecrated to Astarte, the Canaanitish Venus; one who prostituted herself in the name of religion. Thus it appears that this abominable worship was at that time prevalent in Canaan, and Judah had become acquainted with its ways, though he did not call the woman thus devoted by the word that designated her as one sacred to Astarte. He regarded her as a prostitute, because she had covered her face, and he had come to know that this was the practice of women thus consecrated to lust. But to him she was only a harlot, while to his friend she was supposed to be a kedeshah.