Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
The book of Jude is a short, urgent letter written to warn early Christians about false teachers who were twisting God's grace into a justification for any behavior they chose. The writer references Sodom and Gomorrah — two ancient cities described in Genesis (the first book of the Bible) that were destroyed because of their extreme moral corruption. Their destruction became one of the most well-known symbols of divine judgment throughout Scripture. Jude uses their story as a stark historical warning: the way a community lives carries real consequences, and a people who abandon all moral limits do not ultimately escape those consequences. The verse is less about condemning specific sins and more about the danger of surrendering yourself to something entirely.
God, I don't always like what your Word says — and I need the honesty to admit that. Give me the courage to receive warnings as love, and the wisdom to examine my own choices with the same seriousness I'd apply to someone else's. Guard my heart from the slow drift I don't even notice. Amen.
We live in an age that has largely decided warnings are unkind. We soften edges, avoid hard words, and prefer encouragement to caution. So a verse like this lands awkwardly — like finding a "danger" sign at the entrance of somewhere you'd already planned to go. Jude doesn't write this to be cruel. He writes it because he is genuinely alarmed, watching people in his own community use the language of grace to justify anything they want. So he reaches for the most sobering example he knows. The deeper challenge in this verse isn't just the specific sins mentioned — it's the phrase "gave themselves up to." That deserves a long, honest look. Not what do you struggle with (that's a different conversation) — but what have you stopped struggling with? What do you pursue now without restraint, without accountability, without a thought for where it leads? Jude isn't writing to condemn the person still in the fight. He's sounding an alarm for the person who has quietly stopped fighting altogether.
Who was Jude writing to, and why does he reach back to Sodom and Gomorrah specifically as his example rather than using a more recent one?
What does the phrase "gave themselves up to" suggest about how moral drift usually works? Does it tend to happen suddenly or gradually in your experience?
Does the idea of divine punishment make you uncomfortable? Why might that reaction be worth sitting with rather than dismissing?
How do you speak honestly with someone you care about who seems to be heading toward something destructive — without sounding self-righteous or pushing them further away?
Is there an area of your life where you've been drifting rather than deciding? What would it take to name it honestly — to yourself, or to someone you trust?
But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.
Genesis 13:13
But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
Genesis 19:26
Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
Leviticus 18:22
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Matthew 25:41
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another ; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
Romans 1:27
If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
Leviticus 20:13
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
Romans 1:26
Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
Genesis 19:24
just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the adjacent cities, since they in the same way as these angels indulged in gross immoral freedom and unnatural vice and sensual perversity. They are exhibited [in plain sight] as an example in undergoing the punishment of everlasting fire.
AMP
just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
ESV
just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
NASB
In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
NIV
as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
NKJV
And don’t forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God’s judgment.
NLT
Sodom and Gomorrah, which went to sexual rack and ruin along with the surrounding cities that acted just like them, are another example. Burning and burning and never burning up, they serve still as a stock warning.
MSG