What does arsenokoites mean in 1 Corinthians 6:9?

Arsenokoites (ἀρσενοκοίτης, G733) is a compound Greek word built from two parts: arsen (ἄρσεν, "male") and koite (κοίτη, "bed" or "lying"). Put them together and the referent is plain — a man who lies with a male. The word appears only twice in the New Testament, both times in Paul's letters (1 Cor 6:9; 1 Tim 1:10), and it almost certainly comes from the Septuagint wording of two passages in Leviticus.

LXX Leviticus 18:22: "With a male you shall not lie the lying of a woman — it is an abomination."

LXX Leviticus 20:13: "Whoever lies with a male the lying of a woman — they have committed an abomination."

Both passages use arsen and koite in close sequence to describe the same act, and both call it bdelugma (βδέλυγμα, "abomination," G946). Paul appears to have fused those two Greek words into one compound term. That word bdelugma turns up again in Revelation 21:8, where the "abominable" are excluded from the New Jerusalem — John's final exclusion list reaching back through Paul all the way to Moses.

In the verse immediately before arsenokoites, Paul uses malakoi (μαλακοί, G3120, literally "the soft ones") — a term that in context likely covers the other participant in the same act. The two words together address the behavior from both sides. They sit alongside pornoi (the sexually immoral) and moichoi (adulterers) in a list of patterns of life, not isolated temptations. Paul's question in this passage is not "have you ever done one of these things?" but "does this describe who you are?" — the kind of repeated behavior that shapes a person's character and, if unrepented, excludes them from the kingdom.

For the full analysis of every term in Paul's list, and the extraordinary pivot in verse 11 ("and such were some of you"), see Who Will Not Inherit the Kingdom.