Sodomites

The term "Sodomites" in the Old Testament translates the Hebrew qadesh (sacred or consecrated one) and denotes male cult prostitutes associated with Canaanite fertility religion rather than inhabitants of Sodom per se. They practiced ritual sexual immorality connected to idol worship, which Israel was strictly forbidden to adopt (Deut. 23:17). The presence of Sodomites in Judah under Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:24) represents the religious apostasy that provoked the prophets, and Asa removed them from the land as part of his reform (1 Kings 15:12), as did Jehoshaphat after him (1 Kings 22:46).

Paul's description in Romans 1:26–27 of those who "changed the natural use" connects the wider pattern of moral inversion to the abandonment of God, using the condemnation of Sodom as the background. The term carried both the literal sense of moral corruption and the cultic sense of false religious devotion, both of which corrupted Israel's covenant faithfulness.