In current usage, the term is particularly used in law. Then the angels strike the Sodomites blind, 'so that they wearied themselves to find the door' (Genesis 19:4–11, KJV). Lot protests that the 'messengers' are his guests and offers the Sodomites his virgin daughters instead, but then they threaten to 'do worse' with Lot than they would with his guests. The men of Sodom surround Lot's house and demand that he bring the messengers out so that they may 'know' them (the expression includes sexual connotations). Two angels are invited by Lot to take refuge with his family for the night.
Genesis (chapters 18–20) tells how God wished to destroy the 'sinful' cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
The term is derived from the Ecclesiastical Latin peccatum Sodomiticum or 'sin of Sodom', which in turn comes from the Ancient Greek word Σόδομα (Sódoma).
