Editing Sodomy (section)

=== Jewish views ===
: ''Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters,''
: ''neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took''
: ''them away as I saw this.'' (16:49-50, [[King James Version of the Bible|KJV]]).

The [[13th century|thirteenth-century]] Jewish scholar [[Nachmanides]] wrote, “According to our sages, they were notorious for every evil, but their fate was sealed for their persistence in not supporting the poor and the needy.” His contemporary Rabbenu Yonah expresses the same view: “Scripture attributes their annihilation to their failure to practice [[tzedakah]] [charity or justice].” [http://www.shemayisrael.co.il/publicat/hazon/tzedaka/Tzedakah_Activists_Vs_Sodomites.html]

The [[Book of Wisdom]], which is included by Orthodox and Roman Catholics, but excluded by modern Jews (Judaism had obviously still included it in the first century AD), Protestants, and other Christian denominations, makes reference to the story of Sodom, [[further]] emphasizing that their sin had been failing to practice hospitability:

:''And punishments came upon the sinners not without former signs by the force of thunders: for they suffered justly according to their own wickedness, insomuch as they used a more hard and hateful behaviour toward strangers.''
:''For the Sodomites did not receive those, whom they knew not when they came: but these brought friends into bondage, that had well deserved of them.'' (19:13-14, [[King James Version of the Bible|KJV]])

Prohibitions on same-sex activities (# 157-159) and bestiality (#155-156)[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/613_commandments#Maimonides.27_list] are among the [[613 commandments]] as listed by [[Maimonides]] in the 12th century; however, their source in [[Leviticus 18]] does not contain the word ''sodomy,'' nor does the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in [[Genesis]] have any explicit reference to such acts.