Abomination
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Bdelygma names an abomination, detestable thing, or object regarded with moral and religious revulsion before God. In the Gospels, Jesus uses the phrase abomination of desolation from Daniel in an eschatological warning that calls for alertness and interpretive care.
Reader summary
Full entry for βδέλυγμα (G946) · Open the biblical lexicon
Bdelygma names an abomination, detestable thing, or object regarded with moral and religious revulsion before God. In the Gospels, Jesus uses the phrase abomination of desolation from Daniel in an eschatological warning that calls for alertness and interpretive care.
The BSB source-word alignment has 6 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include abomination (2), [is] detestable (1), ABOMINATIONS (1), an abomination (1), of abominations (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Matthew 24:15. Its strongest book concentrations include Revelation (3), Luke (1), Mark (1), Matthew (1).
Bdelygma names an abomination, detestable thing, or object regarded with moral and religious revulsion before God. In the Gospels, Jesus uses the phrase abomination of desolation from Daniel in an eschatological warning that calls for alertness and interpretive care. Luke uses the adjective idea to say that what people highly prize may be detestable before God.
Revelation uses bdelygma for Babylon's corruptions and then excludes anything abominable from the New Jerusalem. The word is severe and should not be used casually. It does not authorize personal disgust as divine judgment. Rather, it marks what God treats as fundamentally unclean, idolatrous, corrupt, or opposed to His holy city. The reader must handle it with reverence, restraint, and close attention to each passage.
Bdelygma appears in high-severity contexts. Matthew and Mark connect it with Daniel's abomination of desolation and require readers to understand with care. Luke exposes the gap between human prestige and God's evaluation. Revelation uses the word for Babylon's corrupt idolatrous impurity and for what cannot enter the holy city. The word teaches moral revulsion before God, not personal contempt as a spiritual shortcut.
So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand),
Jesus warns about the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel. The parenthetical call to understand demands careful interpretation, not sensational timetables.
So when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
Mark repeats the warning about the abomination standing where it should not. The word belongs to crisis, holiness, and urgent response.
So He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is prized among men is detestable before God.
Jesus says what is prized among people is detestable before God. The word family exposes the reversal between human esteem and divine judgment.
The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.
Babylon holds a cup full of abominations and impurities. The word marks corrupt idolatrous splendor as morally filthy before God.
And on her forehead a mysterious name was written: BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Babylon is named mother of the abominations of the earth. The term belongs to Revelation's picture of systemic idolatry and corruption.
But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices an abomination or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Nothing unclean or abominable enters the New Jerusalem. The final city is guarded by the Lamb's book of life and God's holiness.
βδέλυγμα is the primary LXX translation of the Hebrew תּוֹעֵבָה (to'evah, H8441) — the word for what is ritually and morally detestable to God. It also translates שִׁקּוּץ (shiqquts, H8251) — the word used for detestable idols, which Daniel uses for the desecrating sacrilege in the sanctuary (Dan 9:27; 11:31; 12:11). The LXX's choice of βδέλυγμα for both words gives the NT a vocabulary that carries the full weight of the Hebrew abomination tradition, with strong connections to idolatry, pagan cult, and the desecration of the temple.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. Something ritually defiling and detestable to God, worthy of utter rejection and destruction.
Something ritually defiling and detestable to God, worthy of utter rejection and destruction.
(βδελύσσω), [in LXX chiefly for שֶׁקֶץ ,תּוֹעֵבָה ;] an abomination, a detestable thing: Luk.16:15, Rev.17:4, 5 21:27; τὸ β. τ. ἐρημώσεως (Dan LXX 12:11, cf . 1Ma.1:54; DB, i, 12f.; DCG, i, 6f.), Mrk.13:14, Mat.24:15 (Cremer, 138).
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
6 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
an abominable thing, an accursed thing
Read versean abominable thing, an accursed thing
Read versean abominable thing, an accursed thing
Read versean abominable thing, an accursed thing
Read versean abominable thing, an accursed thing
Read versean abominable thing, an accursed thing
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 3 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 3 selected witnesses from 6 lexical occurrence verses.
βδέλυγμα is built from this root:
Connects the prophecy to Danielic desecration themes.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Bdelygma is one of the New Testament's strongest words for what is detestable before God, so it must be handled slowly. In the Synoptic warnings, the abomination of desolation is not a puzzle toy for curiosity; Jesus gives a crisis warning that requires understanding and obedience. In Luke, the word family overturns public honor by saying God may detest what people prize.
In Revelation, abominations belong to Babylon's polluted splendor and are excluded from the holy city. The word therefore teaches that God's holiness defines what is truly detestable. It also restrains teachers from using disgust as a substitute for exegesis. Scripture, not personal reaction, must set the category.
Matthew 24:15
Bdelygma is a noun for an abomination or detestable thing. In biblical usage it often carries moral, cultic, or idolatrous revulsion before God rather than ordinary dislike.
Old Testament abomination language often concerns idolatry, covenant unfaithfulness, and practices detestable to the Lord. The New Testament carries that severity into Jesus' warnings, His critique of human values, and Revelation's vision of Babylon and the holy city.
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