The Book of Deuteronomy may refer to this obliquely in a verse (23:18) which reads: "You shall not bring the hire of a prostitute or the wages of a dog into the house of the Lord your God in payment for any vow." Biblical scholars have interpreted "the wages of a dog" ( məḥîr keleḇ) as a reference to male prostitution. However, it is possible that the phrase refers instead to healing dogs. Stager speculates that a similar cult may have operated in the vicinity of the Temple in Jerusalem, whose attendants may have received fees for their services. This could have prompted the Deuteronomist to prohibit using such fees as payments for vows in the Temple. The dogs would have been seen as doubly impure for being associated with a foreign religion and consuming the filth emanating from sores and wounds.
