The word comes from the immoral city of Sodom (Gen. 19). Lot, a resident of Sodom, entertained two heavenly visitors who were about to bring divine judgment on the place.
The men of Sodom surrounded Lot’s house and demanded that he make his male visitors available for sex. The King James Version says, “Bring them out unto us, that we may know them” (v. 5).
A modern version says, more directly, “Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them” (NIV).
Lot offered the Sodomites an alternative that they refused: his virgin daughters. The lecherous men became enraged and tried to break down the door.
Lot’s heavenly visitors struck the men with blindness. Lot’s family fled and God rained down fire and brimstone on the wicked place.
Sodomy has long been used to refer to homosexuality. The Bible condemns the practice in both the Old and New Testaments (Lev. 18:22; Deut. 23:17; Rom. 1:21–27;1 Cor. 6:9).
