Jude 1:7
“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.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Sodom and Gomorrah, given over to sexual corruption, stand as a warning example of the judgment that falls on persistent ungodliness.
What Does Jude 1:7 Mean?
Jude adds a third example, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors. They gave themselves over to fornication and went after strange flesh, abandoning the order God set for human life. Their ruin became proverbial, a public sign set forth for all who came after. Jude appeals to a story his readers knew well.
He calls their punishment an example, a visible lesson written into history so that others might take warning. The point is not cruelty but mercy: God lets the consequences of one generation teach the next. The same sins that animate the intruders Jude opposes, indulgence dressed up as freedom, lead the same direction. Jude holds up the warning so his readers will turn instead toward the Lord, in whom there is safety and life.