Advocates for same-sex relationships often cite inhospitality as the reason God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

Impeaching the Ezekiel Passage:

The claim that Yahweh did not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for sodomy, but only for inhospitality, is a revisionist interpretation that lacks textual support and contradicts both the Old and New Testament records.

This argument, common among progressive theologians and some modern critics, originated as a way to minimize or reinterpret the clear biblical condemnation of homosexual acts.

Biblical Textual Evidence That Refutes the “Inhospitality” Argument

Genesis 19: The Explicit Context

Genesis 19:4-5 “But before Lot retired for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house. They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!”

Genesis 19:4-5 “Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.”

The Hebrew word translated “know” is yadaʿ (יָדַע), which has a clear sexual meaning in many biblical contexts (used over 900 times in the Old Testament).

In Genesis 4:1, “Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived…” clearly indicates sexual relations.

Lot’s response in Genesis 19:7–8, where he offers his daughters who “have not known a man,” confirms that the intent of the mob was sexual: “Do not act so wickedly… I have two daughters who have not known any man.”

Impeaching The Hospitality Assertion

Offering hospitality was already extended by Lot (Gen. 19:1–3).

The mob’s crime was not neglecting hospitality—it was the violent demand for homosexual rape.

Jude 1:7: The New Testament Confirmation: “And don’t forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God’s judgment.

The Koine-Greek text makes the meaning of this text in Genesis 19:1-3, clear:

The Greek word, ekporneusasa (ἐκπορνεύσασα) means: “sexual immorality”

The Greek reads: “apelthousai opiso sarkos heteras” (ἀπελθοῦσαι ὀπίσω σαρκὸς ἑτέρας): “going after strange flesh” – commonly understood by Greek scholars as pursuing unnatural sexual desires (homosexual acts).

Jude connects the sin of Sodom with sexual perversion, not with bad manners or hospitality issues.

2 Peter 2:6–8 – Righteous Lot Was Distressed by Lawless, Sensual Conduct

2 Peter 2:5-8 “God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people. But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him. Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day.”

The phrase “shameful immorality” (aselgeia – ἀσέλγεια) refers to sexually unrestrained, licentious behavior.

Peter’s use of these terms in the Greek language is consistent with sexual sin, not “inhospitality.”

• Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 – The Broader Moral Law Against Homosexual Acts
• Leviticus 18:22: “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.
• Leviticus 20:13: “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.”

These laws were given after Sodom, but the sin of Sodom is depicted as one for which God had judged the sin of Sodomy beforehand, indicating its severity.

Impeaching The Assertion That Homosexuality Did Not Exist In The Bible Until 1946

Answering the “Inhospitality” Misinterpretation

Origin of the Misinterpretation: This argument largely stems from progressive interpretations, such as those in John Boswell’s book, Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality (1980), where he argues that the sin of Sodom was inhospitality, not homosexuality.

The Ezekiel 16:49–50 text is cited in modern LGBTQ-affirming theology as a reinterpretation of biblical morality. Critics often cite this as “proof” that the sin of Sodom was something other than sexual:

Ezekiel 16:49–50: “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them when I saw it.”

While the text highlights social injustice, it ends by stating they “did an abomination”—a term consistently used in Scripture to describe sexual immorality, particularly homosexual acts (cf. Leviticus 18:22).

The Hebrew word for abomination here is תּוֹעֵבָה (toʿevah), used in Leviticus for male-male intercourse.

Ezekiel describes multiple sins, including injustice and pride. But it confirms that the final offense—the one for which God judged them—was an abomination, consistent with homosexual perversion.

The biblical text that is used to try and prove this point is Ezekiel 16:48-50. The problem with citing these texts in Ezekiel as proof that the sin of Sodom was inhospitality, not same-sex sin, is that Ezekiel is not talking about Sodom; he is describing the sins of Israel and the Hebrew people.

God called Israel to be His special people, separate from all the nations and people of the earth. When God led the Israelites into the land of Canaan, he instructed them to not worship the gods of the Canaanites, who murdered their children on the fiery hot arms of their god Molech. He told the Israelites to not conduct themselves as the Canaanites did in sexual perversion, debauchery, and immorality.

Canaanite kings forcibly married their sisters. Young boys were kept as sex slaves and temple prostitutes at the temples of Canaanite gods. The Canaanite god, Anath, was a combination of sister and spouse as a goddess who was a mirror image of the deviant practices of Canaanite kings.[1]

The Canaanite goddess, Qudshu, “the Holiness,” is seen as a perverted moral goddess riding nude on the back of a lion, with a lily in one hand and a serpent in the other, seeking sex with her worshippers. Male prostitutes were dedicated to the sex cult of the Qudshu, offering themselves to this goddess in her honor.[2]

The vast number of Canaanite gods in Ugaritic epic literature displays the depth of depravity that characterized the Canaanite people and their demonic religion. Rooted in a debasement of normal human morality, Canaanites considered nothing off limits in the expression of their evil and licentiousness. Canaanites practiced barbaric rituals of murder while in mass orgies as a part of their religious ceremonies.

Psalms 106:37-38 describes the gods of the Canaanites as “demons” whom they sacrifice their sons and daughters to on the altar of Molech. “They even sacrificed their sons and daughters to the demons. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters. By sacrificing them to the idols of Canaan, they polluted the land with murder.”

By the time God sent Ezekiel to the Israelites, they were practicing all of the perversions that the Canaanites were used in the worship of their pagan gods. God’s people had given themselves to every perverted and evil practice of the pagan nations around them.

The NLT version is very descriptive of the text that proponents of same-sex relationships cite as proof that Sodom’s sin was inhospitality, not sexual sin:

Ezekiel 16:1-3 “Then another message came to me from the LORD: “Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable sins. Give her this message from the Sovereign LORD: You are nothing but a Canaanite!”

Notice the context of Ezekiel chapter 16: Israel, Jerusalem, the Israelite people, and their “detestable sins,” like those of the Canaanites.

Ezekiel 16:20-21 “Then you took your sons and daughters—the children you had borne to me—and sacrificed them to your gods. Was your prostitution not enough Must you also slaughter my children by sacrificing them to idols?

The reason that God brought judgment to the nations of Canaan was due to their perversity in how they lived their lives. The offering of newborn babies to the god Molech was a common practice of the Canaanites. The people that God had called as His own, after they came into the land God promised them and they began to prosper, the Israelites copied the evil that the Canaanites had long practiced, the worship of Molech by murdering their babies to please their pagan god, and the sexual sin of men with men and boys.

Ezekiel continues the rest of chapter 16 by naming all the terrible practices that His people, the Israelites, were doing in imitation of the Canaanites. When we get to the end of the chapter, we find that God calls Jerusalem, “Sodom” because these people who were called to be separate from the world had become just like the people of Sodom in their perversion and immorality.

Ezekiel 16:46  “Your older sister was Samaria, who lived with her daughters in the north. Your younger sister was Sodom, who lived with her daughters in the south.

Ezekiel is not writing to tell us about Sodom, but Jerusalem, which had become like Sodom, which God destroyed for her sexual sins and worship of demons.

If you conduct a search on the internet for “What was the sin of Sodom?, you will notice that the first entry is from Wikipedia. At this site, you will see the following:

In Ezekiel 16:48–50, God compares Jerusalem to Sodom, saying, “Sodom never did what you and your daughters have done.” He explains that the sin of Sodom was that “She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me.“

Advocates for same-sex relationships, and in this case, sex between two men, state that the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were nothing more than a lack in their duty to help the poor and needy, being arrogant, and eating too much.

Conveniently, these same advocates leave out the rest of the verse from Ezekiel 16:48-50, “They were haughty and committed abomination before Me…” The Hebrew word used here for “abomination” is תּוֹעֵבָה tô‘êḇâ, the same Hebrew words used in Leviticus 18:22, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination, (Hebrew: תּוֹעֵבָה tô‘êḇâ; perverse, depraved).” The meaning is clear: The homosexual men of Sodom were practicing an abomination before God, having sex with each other, and they were also “arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. And they were haughty.”

Genesis 18:20-21 states that the outcry of sin at Sodom and Gomorrah was so great that the Lord went to these cities to see this for Himself.

“And the Lord said, ‘Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” ~Genesis 18:20-21

When we examine the actual texts of Genesis 19, we find that the reason there was such a great outcry over the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is clear:

Genesis 19:1-5: “That evening, the two angels came to the entrance of the city of Sodom. Lot was sitting there, and when he saw them, he stood up to meet them. Then he welcomed them and bowed with his face to the ground. “My lords,” he said, “come to my home to wash your feet, and be my guests for the night. You may then get up early in the morning and be on your way again.” “Oh no,” they replied. “We’ll just spend the night out here in the city square.” But Lot insisted, so at last they went home with him. Lot prepared a feast for them, complete with fresh bread made without yeast, and they ate. But before they retired for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house. They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!”

It was not the inhospitality of the men in Sodom and Gomorrah that caused the Lord to destroy the men who lived in these two cities. It was their desire for sex between men that brought the two angels to remove Lot and his family, before the Lord destroyed these men in judgment. Genesis 19:24 clarifies this fact by defining the behavior of the men in Sodom and Gomorrah as an “abomination.”

It Was Jesus As Yahweh In Genesis 19:24, Who Destroyed All The Men of Sodom and Gomorrah For their Sodomy

Genesis 19:24 states that because these men were committing this abomination before the Lord, He came personally to the city and destroyed all of the men who lived there.

“Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens.” ~Genesis 19:24

The Hebrew word used in this verse for “Lord” is Yahweh. It is the same word used in the New Testament to describe Jesus as “Lord.” Those who translated the Koine-Greek of the New Testament into English understood that Jesus is Yahweh from the Old Testament; this is why they used the counterpart Greek word, “Kurios.”

It was the pre-incarnate Jesus who visited Sodom and Gomorrah, discovered that the men there were committing the sin of abomination by having sex with each other, and destroyed all of them.

When we arrive at the New Testament, the writers of these texts confirm that it was sex between men that caused their destruction.

Jude 1:7: “And don’t forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God’s judgment.”

2 Peter 2:6-10 “God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes…He is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desire.”

Why The LGBTQ+ Community Seeks To Redefine Ezekiel 16:48-50

The reason that this particular definition for the men of Sodom was placed at Wikipedia is that this is the preferred definition of the LGBTQ+ community. This definition diminishes and distorts the true acts that were taking place at Sodom, which caused its destruction.

All that a person must do in order to discover what the sin of Sodom was is look up the definition for the word “Sodomy.”

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary Defines Sodom As Follows:

“The crime of oral or anal sexual contact or penetration between persons or of sexual intercourse between a person and an animal.“

From this definition, we learn that the term sodomy originated from the practice of sodomy that was occurring in ancient Sodom and Gomorrah. This tells us that the definition placed at Wikipedia for the sin of Sodom is intentionally inaccurate.

What The Bible Says About Sodom And Gomorrah

In this matter, there is no greater authority than the Bible for communicating to us what was really taking place at the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. When we conduct an examination in the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures, we find that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was anal sex between same-sex men. It was this practice that brought the pre-incarnate LORD Jesus to these two cities with two angels. In Genesis chapter 19, we see Jesus coming to investigate what was taking place and make a judgment.

If we conduct an investigation, we discover that before Jesus came to earth and permanently took the body of a man to die for us, He came to earth on several occasions in the temporary form of a man, designated by the term, “The Angel of the Lord.”

The Angel of the Lord was frequently near those, in the Old Testament, who were afflicted and in great distress, or had been cast out and isolated from the world.

• Hagar, when she was cast out of Abraham’s house (Genesis 16:7).
• Abraham, when he was in the greatest testing of his life (Genesis 22:11).
• Gideon, when he was frightened and discouraged (Judges 6:11-12).
• Israel, promised by the Lord that He would never break His covenant with their nation (Judges 2:1).

Jesus Destroyed The Men of Sodom

In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (Theos, John 1:1).

Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God (Theos). Amen (Romans 9:5).

But to the Son (Jesus) He says: “Your throne, O God (Theos), is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.” (Hebrews 1:8)

• In the Old Testament, the term LORD in Hebrew is Yahweh/Jehovah.
• In the New Testament, the word Lord in Greek is Kyrios.

The writers of the New Testament were unmistakably attributing the title of Jehovah-God to Jesus Christ. It was well understood at the writing of the New Testament that Jesus Christ is Yahweh or God Himself. The translators of the New Testament understood that Jehovah-God and Jesus were one and the same person.

When we see the LORD appearing before Abraham in Genesis 17-19, and at Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19, it is Jesus who is coming to destroy these cities. The idea that Jesus never said anything in the New Testament about same-sex relationships, nor condemned them, is inaccurate. We see what Jesus’ position is concerning gay relationships, from His judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis chapter 19.

Would You Destroy The Righteous With The Wicked?

We see in Genesis 18:23, Abraham interceding on behalf of the righteous who were living in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, asking the Lord, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” Abraham was aware of the sins of these two cities, and he did not disagree with God’s impending judgment. Abraham did wonder if God would destroy those who loved God, who were not participating in the sins of Sodom.

It Was Jesus Who Destroyed Sodom And Gomorrah

God promises Abraham that if He finds even 10 righteous in these cities, He will spare the entire population for the sake of the righteous. When the day arrives, the angels come and remove the only righteous man who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot, and his family.

As soon as Lot is evacuated, we see the Lord Jesus, bringing judgment and destroying all the inhabitants who were committing these same-sex acts:

Then the Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah. He utterly destroyed them. ~Genesis 19:24-25

I documented these facts in a concise book that I wrote in 2016, “Sodom and Gomorrah: The Gay Marriage and Same-Sex Controversy.”

The assertion made by the homosexual community is that gay sex in Sodom and Gomorrah was not sinful, and this was not the reason that God destroyed these two cities with all of their inhabitants.

The gay community claims that it was the sins listed above in Ezekiel 16:48–50, where God is comparing some of the practices of the Jews during their apostasy from God that were similar to Sodom and Gomorrah. It is the idea of the gay community that, because Ezekiel does not mention gay sex in this text, this was not the issue that caused the destruction of these two cities.

This is a distortion of the Ezekiel text, which had nothing to do with gay sex, but the apostasy of the Jews at that time in failing to humble themselves and care for the destitute. It is incorrect to use the Ezekiel scriptures to try and prove God’s acceptance of same-sex relationships.

What Does God Say About Same-Sex Relationships?

If a person genuinely wants to know what the Bible states about the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, several other passages help the reader understand why God destroyed these two cities.

In 2 Peter, chapter 2, the issue of God’s judgment for sin is discussed in context with the flood of Noah, when the whole world perished in a global flood, after God warned them to turn from their sins for 100 years.

Jesus, Paul, and Peter all mention the flood of Noah and validate this event as authentic.

Beginning at verse 6, Peter turns to the events of Sodom and Gomorrah and describes these two cities as also falling under the judgment of God because of same-sex relationships.

Peter states that their judgment is an example for us today. The men of these two cities were destroyed because of their same-sex sin and their unwillingness to humble themselves and turn from their sins.

“For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;

And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)— then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority.” ~2 Peter 2:4-10

Peter calls the men of Sodom and Gomorrah “filthy, wicked, lawless, and those who walk according to the lust of the flesh.”

In a similar context to Peter, speaking of God’s judgment for sexual sin, Jude also states the following regarding Sodom and Gomorrah:

“As Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” ~Jude 1:7

Jude describes the same-sex practices of Sodom and Gomorrah as “sexual immorality, strange flesh” (men with men), and their destruction as an example of what God will do to those who refuse to turn from same-sex sin—” the vengeance of eternal fire.”

In the Book of 1 Corinthians, Paul is describing sins that will disqualify a person from heaven and lists many of these in chapter 6. Amongst these are the same-sex sins of homosexuals and sodomites.

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites.” ~1 Corinthians 6:9

There is No Salvation Without Repentance

Wikipedia And Biased Conclusions

The Wikipedia definition for “What Was The Sin Of Sodom” is incorrect and made with the purpose of giving those who read this text approval to practice same-sex relationships without guilt or regret.

For those who really want to know the truth regarding God’s view of same-sex relationships, the entire Bible gives us a clear definition. Same-sex sins are not greater or lesser than any other sins. They must be ended, turned from, and not repeated. If a person turns from any sin and places their trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation, they will receive forgiveness and obtain heaven.

• Examining The Claim That Jesus Approved of Same-Sex Relationships
• Can Matthew Chapter 19 Be Used To Prove that Intersex Individuals Exist?
• Impeaching The Assertion That Homosexuality Did Not Exist In The Bible Until 1946
• An Examination Of Churches That Claim They Are Christian, But Lack The Essentials That Jesus True Church Must Believe

NOTES:

[1] 1. Ugaritic Literature, Gordon, p. 9-56. 2. Albright, Archeology and the religion of Israel, P. 73. 3. William Albright, “From The Stone Age to Christianity, (Baltimore) P 178.
[2] 1. Albright, Archeology and the Religion of Israel, P 76, 2. Gordon, Ugaritic Literature 11:2-240, P 171.