Abomination

Abomination translates several Hebrew and Greek words denoting something morally or ceremonially detestable to God or to the sensibilities of a people. In the Old Testament the term covers a wide range: practices that violate purity distinctions (such as eating unclean animals), the sacrificial offerings of apostate Israel which became loathsome to God, and idolatry in its many forms. In one specific sense, the term entered eschatological language in Daniel's references to the abomination of desolation—a desecrating presence in the sanctuary—which Jesus cited as a future sign in his Olivet discourse (Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14).

Culturally, the Egyptians considered sharing meals with foreigners an abomination; Israelite law declared the practices of Canaanite nations abominations; and the New Testament uses the concept to describe that which is exalted among humans but detestable before God (Luke 16:15).