Complete Bible verses about homosexuality
What the Bible says that few Christians want to talk about
By: Billy Rojas
Original 2013; stylistic modifications 2017.
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Note:
It would be helpful to actually read the introductory comments that follow
the list of Bible passages -and at least read a few of the specific
verses.
Anyone who thinks they "already know" what the Bible says on this subject
who is not familiar with this 2013 research would necessarily be mistaken
at least in part and probably far more in the dark than not.
No-one else has anything close to what this 2013 study
demonstrates about the Bible's testimony on homosexuality.
Comments by political leaders and journalists to any other effect, which
are everywhere in popular culture, and are sometimes also made by
clergymen who should know better, are essentially worthless.
The Sermon on the Mount in no way negates any of the parts of the Bible
that explicitly discuss sodomy / homosexuality. Part of the motivation
for this research was to express very strong objection to "Christians"
who seek to reduce all of Christian faith to the Sermon on the Mount.
The point-of-view expressed here is that the rest of the Bible exists
for very good reasons and, although it is vital to study the book
objectively using the best available research methods, none of it
should be disregarded. All of it has meaning, not just
the Sermon on the Mount.
About Bible translations: I love the KJV; its language is superlative,
at least as good as Shakespeare. However, there were any number
of mistranslations in 1611, not least because the king himself decided
to make some questionable translating decisions, but also because
a number of important ancient texts only discovered by archaeologists
in the 20th century were not known to the KJV scholars. Also, to be
completely honest about it, a large number of words in use in the 17th
century are now obsolete or have changed in meaning. You almost
need to "translate" the KJV to understand it. Therefore, for purposes
of scholarship I used the best available modern language versions.
I seldom use the NIV because it repeatedly is an ideological translation
in which conservative beliefs trump the actual meaning of the Greek or
Hebrew.
For this reason I also only use the 1972 New English Bible and not the
later versions in which "politically correct" words and views start
creeping in.
The NEB is not the same as the "New English Translation."
Finally, although it is somewhat lengthy, it is strongly recommended that
you read "The Curse," toward the end of these materials, which is a
detailed
analysis of what Jesus said about sodomy. Those who maintain that Christ
never discussed the subject are completely wrong. He said a great deal
about sodomy and the fact that this may not be recognized in our era
reflects nothing so much as contemporary popular culture values
that, in my humble opinion, are depraved and must be fought against
with all one's heart and mind and spirit.
A major part of modern culture is pathological. This cannot go unchallenged
no matter how "embarrassing" it may be to do the challenging.
I am completely uncompromising about this. Completely.
This means exactly what it says: No compromises at all.
I also have no use for "hate the sin, love the sinner" mentality because
what it means in practice is a wishy-washy approach to sodomy
that just about totally ignores or misconstrues what the Apostle Paul
said in Romans 1. For me, Romans 1 is absolutely essential
to the discussion and is the very best starting place
for dealing with the issue.
================================
What the Bible says about Homosexuality
Complete list of all relevant verses, with commentary
By: Billy Rojas
2013
2017
.
.
Passages that condemn homosexuality:
There are no passages that approve homosexual values or conduct.
.
.
.
Old Testament / Hebrew Bible
.
Genesis.............18: 20
........................19: 5 - 8
Leviticus...........18: 22 - 24
........................20: 13
Deuteronomy....29: 23
.........................32: 32
Judges..............19: 22 - 30
Psalms..............11: 6
Isaiah..................1: 4 - 10
..........................3: 9
Jeremiah...........23: 14
.........................49: 18
Lamentations......4: 6
Ezekiel.............16: 45 - 58
Amos.................4: 11
Zephaniah...........2: 8 - 9
..
.
.
.
.
Apocrypha
.
Wisdom of Solomon 14: 25 - 26
.
.
New Testament
.
Matthew............10: 11 - 15
..........................11: 23 - 24
Luke..................10: 10 - 12
..........................17: 29 - 30
Romans................1: 18 - 32
............................9: 29
I Corinthians.........6: 9
Galatians...............5: 19 - 21
Ephesians..............4: 19
I Timothy...............1: 8 - 11
James....................4: 4
II Peter..................2: 6 - 7
Jude............................7
Revelation............11: 7 - 8
............................22: 14 - 15
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__________________________________________________________
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Bible Passages
relevant to sodomy / homosexuality
.
Most translations are taken from the New Jerusalem Bible.
Other translations used are indicated in parentheses.
Altogether there are 11 books of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament that
include material which condemns homosexuality, in 16 passages.
There is one passage in the Apocrypha that condemns homosexuality,
Altogether there are 11 books of the New Testament where you will find
material that condemns homosexuality, in 15 passages.
That is, there are 31 passages in the Bible , not counting the Apocrypha,
which condemn homosexuality. These passages occur in 22 books of the
Bible.
Obviously, all arguments to the effect that there are "only" six such
passages
or any other low number are in error and reflect nothing so much as the
ignorance of those who use such incorrect numbers. This would seem to
indicate that those who use low numbers seek to make a case without
benefit of serious research because their minds are made up and they
don't want to do any research. In other cases this may reflect
unwillingness
on the part of the people to deal forthrightly with controversial and
'unseemly'
subject matter. But no matter how you look at it, minimizing the importance
of opposition to homosexuality in the Bible is unjustifiable.
.
Some verses may seem to be "missing" in the material presented here.
Primarily this concerns the various uses of the term "sodomite" in the
books of Kings in the King James Version of the Bible. This subject
deserves separate discussion, but suffice it to say that for all of its
merits
the KJV got some things wrong and no other translation since -speaking
of versions that have reputations for scholarship- uses that word
in the same contexts -because it is inaccurate.
.
There are a few other passages in the Bible that sometimes are thought to
be references to sodomy / homosexuality but those also merit separate
discussion elsewhere.
.
This paper supercedes a similar but much shorter paper of mine that
dates back more than a decade. There were a small number of mistakes
in that paper which have been corrected here. Needless to say,
this 2013 paper greatly expands on the previous effort and includes
a good deal of new discussion of the topic.
.
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___________________________________________________
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,.
Verses quoted in full, with comments
.
.____________________________________________________
Hebrew Bible / Old Testament
Genesis 18: 22 - 24 ( Revised Standard Version )
.
Note: The subject of the "Sin of Sodom" has only become more-or-less
controversial since the rise of the homosexual movement starting in the
1950s.
Until that time there was no dispute anywhere about what was meant.
The viewpoint here is that Jewish and Christian traditions to the effect
that "sodomy" --homosexuality specifically-- is universally condemned
in the Bible, as the following material should make unmistakably clear,
are correct historically and in detail. Support for this view is provided
in quotes from "References" at the conclusion of this paper.
.
Here is what readers who rely on the King James Version are familiar with:
So the men turned from there, and went toward Sodom; but Abraham
still stood before the LORD. Then Abraham drew near, and said,
"Wilt thou indeed destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are
fifty righteous within the city; wilt thou then destroy the place and not
spare it
for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from thee to do such a
thing,
to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the
wicked!
Far be that from thee! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" And
the
LORD said, "If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare
the whole place for their sake."
Note: Eventually God agrees to spare the city if even ten righteous men
can be found there. However, there are none at all to be found.
Genesis 19: 4 -9 ( Revised Standard Version )
.
...the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the
people
to the last man, surrounded the house; and they called to Lot, "Where are
the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know
them." Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him, and
said,
"I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Behold, I have two
daughters
who have not known man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as
you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the
shelter
of my roof." But they said, "Stand back!" And they said, "This fellow came
to
sojourn, and he would play the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than
with them." Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and drew near
to break the door.
.
.
.
Judges 19: 22 - 30 ( Revised Standard Version )
.
Note: The best explanation for why Lot offered his daughters the way he
did
is that of Keith Malcolm Hunt. His opinion is that Lot, confronted with a
mob
of angry homosexuals, knew perfectly well that these deviants would have
no interest in his daughters; the gesture was intended to deflect the
homosexuals
and possibly awaken some moral sense in them, in other words. This cannot
be demonstrated, it is speculative, but it makes good sense.
.
As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city,
base fellows, beset the house round about, beating on the door;
and they said to the old man, the master of the house, "Bring out
the man who came into your house, that we may know him." And
the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them,
"No, my brethren, do not act so wickedly; seeing that this man has
come into my house, do not do this vile thing. Behold, here are my
virgin daughter and his concubine; let me bring them out now. Ravish them
and do with them what seems good to you; but against this man do not
do so vile a thing." But the men would not listen to him. So the man
seized his concubine, and put her out to them; and they knew her,
and abused her all night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break,
they let her go. And as morning appeared, the woman came and fell down
at the door of the man's house where her master was, till it was light.
And her master rose up in the morning, and when he opened the doors
of the house and went out to go on his way, behold, there was his concubine
lying at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. He said to
her,
"Get up, let us be going." But there was no answer. Then he put her upon
the ass; and the man rose up and went away to his home. And when he
entered his house, he took a knife, and laying hold of his concubine he
divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout
all the territory of Israel. And all who saw it said, "Such a thing has
never
happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up
out of the land of Egypt until this day; consider it, take counsel, and
speak."
.
Leviticus 18: 22 - 24
.
"You will not have intercourse with a man as you would with a woman. This
is a hateful thing. [an abomination].
"You will not have intercourse with any kind of animal; you would become
unclean by doing so. Nor will a woman offer herself to an animal, to have
intercourse with it. This would be a violation of nature."
"Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these practices, for it was by
such things that the nations that I am driving out before you made
themselves unclean."
.
Leviticus 20: 13
.
"The man who has intercourse with a man in the same way as with a woman:
they have done a hateful thing together; they will be put to death; their
blood will be on their own heads.
.
.
Deuteronomy 29: 22 - 24 ( 22- 25 New English Bible )
Note: The reference is to the well known story in which the most heinous
sin is homosexuality.
.
"Sulphur! Salt!-The whole country is burning! No one will sow, nothing
grow, no vegetation spring ever again! Devastation like that of Sodom and
Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, devastated by Yahweh in his furious wrath!"
And all the nations will exclaim, "Why has Yahweh treated this country like
this? Why this great blaze of anger?"
And people will say, "Because they deserted the covenant of Yahweh, God of
their ancestors, the covenant which he made with them when he brought them
out of Egypt...
.
.
Deuteronomy 32: 32
Note: Another reminder of the homosexual sins of Sodom.
.
For their vine springs from the stock of Sodom and from the groves
of Gomorrah: their grapes are poisonous grapes, their clusters are bitter;
Psalms 11: 6
Note: Although this is an allusion, no-one familiar with the Bible can
miss it.
The only reference that makes sense here is Sodom.
.
He will rain down red-hot coals, fire and sulphur on the wicked, a
scorching wind
will be their lot.
.
.
.
Isaiah 1: 4 - 10
Disaster, sinful nation, people weighed down with guilt, race of
wrong-doers,
perverted children! They have abandoned Yahweh, despised the Holy One
of Israel, they have turned away from him.
Where shall I strike you next, if you persist in treason? The whole head
is sick, the whole heart is diseased, from the sole of the foot to the
head
there is nothing healthy: only wounds, bruises and open sores not dressed,
not bandaged, not soothed with ointment, your country a desolation,
your towns burnt down, your soil, foreigners lay it waste before your
eyes,
a desolation like devastation by foreigners.
The daughter of Zion is left like a shanty in a vineyard, like a shed
in a cucumber field, like a city besieged. Had Yahweh Sabaoth not left us
a few survivors, we should be like Sodom, we should be the same as
Gomorrah.
Hear what Yahweh says, you rulers of Sodom; listen to what our God
teaches,
you people of Gomorrah.
Isaiah 3: 9
Their complacency bears witness against them, they parade their sin
like Sodom; they do not conceal it, all the worse for them, for they
have hatched their own downfall.
.
Jeremiah 23: 14
But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible:
adultery, persistent lying, such abetting of the wicked that no one
renounces his wickedness. To me they are all like Sodom and
its inhabitants are like Gomorrah.
.
Jeremiah 49: 18
Note: The reference is obviously to the sexual sin of Sodom
and the punishment it deserves.
As at the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbouring towns,
no one will live there any more, Yahweh says, no human being settle there
again.
.
Lamentations 4: 6
...for the wickedness of the daughter of my people exceeded
the sins of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment without
a hand being laid on it.
Ezekiel 16: 45 - 58
Note: While homosexuals and their supporters like to claim that
the only reference to Sodom in these verses is to such things as
indifference to the plight of the poor, the point is driven home
at the conclusion of this pericope, where it is made clear that
whatever else is true of the people of Sodom, who were evil
characters in many ways, the real problem was "lewdness
and your loathsome practices."
.
Yes; you are a true daughter of your mother, who hated her husband
and her children; you are a true sister of your sisters, who hated
their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite
and your father an Amorite.
Your elder sister is Samaria, who lives to the north of you with
her daughters. Your younger sister is Sodom, who lives to the south
of you with her daughters.
You never failed to imitate their behaviour and copy their loathsome
practices,
and soon your behaviour was more corrupt than theirs was.
As I live -declares the Lord Yahweh- your sister Sodom and her daughters
never did what you and your daughters have done.
The crime of your sister Sodom was pride, gluttony, calm complacency;
such were hers and her daughters' crimes. They never helped the poor
and needy; they were proud, and engaged in loathsome practices before me,
and so I swept them away as you have seen.
And yet Samaria never committed half the crimes that you have. "You have
done more loathsome things than they have. By all your loathsome practices
you have made your sisters seem innocent, and now you bear the shame
of which you have freed your sisters; since the sins which you have
committed
are more revolting than theirs, they are more upright than you are. So
now,
bear the disgrace and shame of having put your sisters in the right.
"I shall restore their fortunes, I shall restore Sodom and her daughters,
I shall restore Samaria and her daughters, and then I shall restore your
fortune
with theirs, so that you can bear your shame and disgrace for all you have
done,
and so console them. When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, are
restored to what they were, and Samaria and her daughters are restored
to what they were, then you too and your daughters will be
restored to what you were."
Did you not gloat over your sister Sodom when you were so proud, before
you
were stripped naked? Like her, you are now the laughing-stock of the women
of Edom, of all the women round, of the women of Philistia, who pour out
their contempt on you.
"You have brought this on yourself, with your lewdness and your loathsome
practices" -declares the Lord Yahweh.
.
Amos 4: 11
I overturned you as God overturned Sodom and Gomorrah; you were like a
brand snatched from the blaze and still you would not come back to me
-declares Yahweh.
.
Zephaniah 2: 8 - 9
Note: Long before Zephaniah wrote it was universally understood that
the sin of Sodom was homosexuality, a form of evil that merited
the worst of punishments.
I have heard the taunt of Moab and the insults of the Ammonites,
as they taunted my people and boasted of their own domains.
For this, as I live -declares Yahweh Sabaoth, God of Israel- Moab will
become like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah: a realm of nettles,
a heap of salt, a desolation for ever. What is left of my people will
plunder them, the survivors of my nation will take their heritage.
----------------------------
.
Apocrypha
Wisdom of Solomon 14: 25 - 26 ( King James Version )
So that there reigned in all men without exception blood, manslaughter,
theft, and dissimulation, corruption, unfaithfulness, tumults, perjury,
Disquieting of good men, forgetfulness of good turns, defiling of souls,
changing of kind, disorder in marriages, adultery, and shameless
uncleanness.
( New English Bible )
All is in chaos- bloody murder, theft and fraud, corruption, treachery,
riot, jury, honest men driven to distraction; ingratitude, moral
corruption,
sexual perversion, breakdown of marriage, adultery, debauchery.....
--------------------------
New Testament
.
.
Matthew 10: 11 - 15 ( New English Bible )
.
'When you come to any town or village, look for some worthy person in it,
and make your home there until you leave. Wish the house peace as you
enter it, so that, if it is worthy, your peace may descend on it; if it is
not
worthy, your peace can come back to you. If anyone will not receive you
or listen to what you say, then as you leave that house or that town shake
the dust of it off your feet. I tell you this: on the day of judgement it
will be
more bearable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
.
.
Matthew 11: 20 - 24 ( New English Bible )
.
THEN HE SPOKE of the towns in which most of his miracles had been
performed, and denounced them for their impenitence. 'Alas for you,
Chorazin!' he said; 'alas for you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were
performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would
long ago have repented in sack-cloth and ashes. But it will be more
bearable, I tell you, for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgement than
for you. And as for you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to the skies?
No, brought down to the depths! For if the miracles had been performed
in Sodom which were performed in you, Sodom would be standing to
this day. But it will be more bearable, I tell you, for the land of Sodom
on the day of judgement than for you.'
.
.
Luke 10: 10 - 12
.
But whenever you enter a town and they do not make you welcome, go out
into its streets and say, "We wipe off the very dust of your town that
clings
to our feet, and leave it with you. Yet be sure of this: the kingdom of
God
is very near."
I tell you, on the great Day it will be more bearable for Sodom than for
that town.
.
Luke 17: 29 - 30 ( New English Bible )
...but the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulphur
from heaven and made an end of them all -it will be like that on the day
when the Son of Man is revealed.
..
.
Romans 1: 20 - 32 ( New English Bible )
.
FOR WE SEE divine retribution revealed from heaven is and falling upon
all the godless wickedness of men. In their wickedness they are stifling
the truth. For all that may be known of God by men lies plain before
their eyes; indeed God himself has disclosed it to them. His invisible
attributes, that is to say his everlasting power and deity, have been
visible,
ever since the world began, to the eye of reason, in the things he has
made.
There is therefore no possible defence for their conduct; knowing God,
they have refused to honour him as God, or to render him thanks. Hence
all their thinking has ended in futility, and their misguided minds are
plunged
in darkness. They boast of their wisdom, but they have made fools
of themselves, exchanging the splendour of immortal God for an image
shaped like mortal man, even for images like birds, beasts,
and creeping things.
For this reason God has given them up to the vileness of their own
desires,
and the consequent degradation of their bodies, because they have bartered
away the true God for a false one, and have offered reverence and worship
to created things instead of to the Creator, who is blessed for ever; amen.
In consequence, I say, God has given them up to shameful passions.
Their women have exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural,
and their men in turn, giving up natural relations with women,
burn with lust for one another; males behave indecently with males,
and are paid in their own persons the fitting wage of such perversion.
Thus, because they have not seen fit to acknowledge God, he has
given them up to their own depraved reason. This leads them to break
all rules of conduct. They are filled with every kind of injustice,
mischief,
rapacity, and malice; they are one mass of envy, murder, rivalry,
treachery,
and malevolence; whisperers and scandal-mongers, hateful to God, insolent,
arrogant, and boastful; they invent new kinds of mischief, they show no
loyalty
to parents, no conscience, no fidelity to their plighted word; they are
without
natural affection and without pity. They know well enough the just decree
of God, that those who behave like this deserve to die, and yet they do
it;
not only so, they actually applaud such practices.
Romans 9: 29 ( Revised Standard Version )
And as Isaiah predicted "If the Lord of hosts had not left us children, we
would have fared like Sodom and been made like Gomorrah."
.
I Corinthians 6: 9 - 10
.
Note: While the phrase "sexually immoral" can be taken in a generalized
sense to simply include homosexuality, in this case it seems to be a
strand-in
for homosexuality specifically inasmuch as heterosexual sins
are listed separately.
.
Do you not realize that people who do evil will never inherit the kingdom
of God? Make no mistake -the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers,
the self-indulgent, sodomites, thieves, misers, drunkards, slanderers
and swindlers, none of these will inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5: 19 -21 ( New English Bible )
Note: This list parallels the condemnations in Romans 1. Although Paul
seems to intend inclusion of heterosexual sins in this passage the
parallelism
suggests that he mostly was talking about homosexuals and their grievous
sins.
Anyone can see the kind of behaviour that belongs to the lower nature:
fornication, impurity, and indecency; idolatry and sorcery; quarrels,
a contentious temper, envy, fits of rage, selfish ambitions, dissensions,
party intrigues, and jealousies; drinking bouts, orgies, and the like.
I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who behave in such ways
will never inherit the kingdom of God.
.
Ephesians 4: 19 - 20 ( New English Bible )
Note: This can include heterosexual sins but no way does it exclude
homosexuality, which epitomizes sinfulness per se.
Dead to all feeling, they have abandoned themselves to vice, and stop at
nothing to satisfy their foul desires. But that is not how you learned
Christ.
1 Timothy 1: 8 - 11 ( New English Bible )
.
Note: In case anyone does not understand the English language very well,
"pervert" means homosexual although it can also mean people who otherwise
have very sick values.
.
We all know that the law is an excellent thing, provided we treat it as
law,
recognizing that it is not aimed at good citizens, but at the lawless and
unruly,
the impious and sinful, the irreligious and worldly; at parricides and
matricides,
murderers and fornicators, perverts, kidnappers, liars, perjurers - in fact
all whose behaviour flouts the wholesome teaching which conforms with
the gospel entrusted to me, the gospel which tells of the glory of God
in his eternal felicity.
.
James 4: 4 ( New English Bible )
.
Note: This may be a somewhat flexible interpretation, but it is worth
pointing out that any kind of contemporary view to the effect that
homosexuality
is acceptable and non-problematic is the exact opposite of Jewish and
Christian
morality. In other words, at this time in history the opinions of various
people
in the mass media and government on the issue of homosexuality is in
opposition
to the clear message of the Judeo-Christian scriptures. It does not matter
if,
in some locations, a majority supports so-called "homosexual rights."
Exodus 23: 2 could not be clearer- "You shall not be led into
wrong-doing by a the majority..."
.
You false, unfaithful creatures! Have you never learned that love of the
world
is enmity to God? Whoever chooses to be the world's friend
makes himself God's enemy.
.
II Peter 2: 6 - 7
.
He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by reducing them to ashes as
a warning to future sinners; but rescued Lot, an upright man who had been
sickened
by the debauched way in which these vile people behaved...
.
.
Jude 7 ( Revised Standard Version )
.
...just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise
acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust, serve as an example
by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
.
Revelation 11: 7 - 8
.
When they have completed their witnessing, the beast that comes out
of the Abyss is going to make war on them and overcome them and kill them.
Their corpses lie in the main street of the great city known by the
symbolic
names Sodom and Egypt, in which their Lord was crucified.
.
Revelation 22: 14 - 15 ( King James Version )
Note: Sometimes, if the context makes this clear, "dog" can refer to
a canine animal with four legs. However, in this context the term "dog"
is a euphemism for sodomites. In other words, homosexuals along with
certain other types of sinners are excluded from the kingdom. They are
not "saved" as long as they remain homosexuals.
Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right
to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers,
and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
.
.
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