Genesis (chapters 18–20) tells how God wished to destroy the 'sinful' cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Two angels are invited by Lot to take refuge with his family for the night. 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). 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.
Then the angels strike the Sodomites blind, 'so that they wearied themselves to find the door' (Genesis 19:4–11, KJV). In current usage, the term is particularly used in law. Laws prohibiting sodomy were seen frequently in past Jewish, Christian, and Islamic civilizations, but the term has little modern usage outside Africa, Asia, and the United States. These laws in the United States have been challenged and have sometimes been found unconstitutional or been replaced with different legislation. The word sod, a noun or verb (to 'sod off') used as an insult, is derived from sodomite. It is a general-purpose insult term for anyone the speaker dislikes without specific reference to their sexual behaviour.
