Open Bible Data Home About News OET Key
OET OET-RV OET-LV ULT UST BSB BLB AICNT OEB WEB WMB NET LSV FBV TCNT T4T LEB BBE MOF JPS ASV DRA YLT DBY RV WBS KJB BB GNV CB TNT WYC SR-GNT UHB Related Parallel Interlinear Dictionary Search
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W XY Z
ABOMINATION
Repugnant or detestable act, person, or thing. The idea of abomination derives from the specific demands God’s holiness makes upon his people. Adjectives frequently used for abominations in the OT are “abhorrent,” “loathsome,” “unclean,” and “rejected.”
Of the four major Hebrew words translated “abomination,” the one most frequently used indicates violation of an established custom or ritual that, in turn, brings the judgment of God. Examples range from defective sacrifices (Dt 17:1) to magic and divination (Dt 18:12) or idolatrous practices (2 Kgs 16:3). A second Hebrew word refers to the meat of certain kinds of animals that was ritually defiling, whether touched or eaten (Lv 11:10-13). A third word designates three-day-old sacrificial meat (Lv 7:18). A fourth word refers almost exclusively to idolatrous objects of pagan origin (Jer 4:1; 7:30). Apart from the specialized usage of “abomination of desolation,” the Greek word for “abomination” is used infrequently in the NT (Lk 16:15; Rom 2:22; Ti 1:16; Rv 17:4-5; 21:8, 27) and is translated by many English words. The primary connotation is anything that is abhorrent to a holy God.
See also Cleanness and Uncleanness, Regulations Concerning; Dietary Laws (After Moses).
Abomination of Desolation
Phrase used in Daniel, 1 Maccabees, Matthew, and Mark to designate a detestable object of pagan idolatry so loathsome to God that he would enact desolating judgment.
In Daniel’s vision of coming abomination, a detestable object would be set up in the temple in Jerusalem (Dn 11:31) 1,290 days after the beginning of a period of sacrilege (Dn 12:11), thus destroying the temple’s holiness and rendering it unclean by ceremonial and ethical standards. In 1 Maccabees it is recorded that the Syrian Antiochus Epiphanes invaded Palestine (167 BC) and erected a desolating sacrilege, probably a statue of Zeus, upon the altar of burnt offering in the temple (1 Macc 1:54).
Jesus used the phrase “abomination of desolation” in answering the disciples’ questions concerning the destruction of the temple and the general course of the age until his return (Mt 24:1-31; Mk 13:1-27; Lk 21:5-28). In alluding to the Daniel passages, Jesus predicted that something analogous to the destruction by Antiochus would occur. Jesus applied the prediction and fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy in part to the coming Roman desecration, which did take place in AD 70. Jesus warned that the erection of the abomination of desolation (“desolating sacrilege,” rsv) was a signal to flee the city of Jerusalem (Mt 24:15-16; Mk 13:14).
The Greek version of the book of Ezekiel sometimes used “lawlessness” in place of abomination, leading to the association of “man of lawlessness” (man of abomination) with the detestable sacrilege of the Antichrist (2 Thes 2:3). A similar theme is reflected in the book of Revelation, where the image of the creature or beast from the sea symbolizes the power of the forces of evil demanding obedience and submission (Rv 13:1-10).
See also Antichrist; Daniel, Book of; Abomination.