They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.
They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains. High places were selected by idolaters on which to sacrifice, because of their greater nearness to the heavenly hosts which they worshipped (Deuteronomy 12:2).
Under ... elms - rather 'terebinths,' or turpentine trees (Maurer).
Because the shadow thereof is good - screening the lascivious worshippers from the heat of the sun.
Therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery - in the Therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery - in the polluted worship of Astarte, the Phoenician goddess of love. God makes the fathers and husbands' sin their punishment, by causing it to become the source of dishonour to those whose honour was dearest to them-their wives and their daughters. Thus, should they be made to feel how bitter a thing it is to have dishonoured their Divine Father and Husband. The children inherit the parents' sin, and are made the parents' punishers. What ye do of your own will, your daughters and wives shall do and suffer against your will.