An abomination is anything that arouses the fierce moral repulsion of a holy God — an act, practice, or disposition so contrary to His character that it provokes His wrath and judgment. Scripture uses this term to describe idolatry, sexual immorality, shedding innocent blood, dishonest weights, pride, and false worship. It is not merely distasteful but fundamentally incompatible with the holiness of God. What culture normalizes, God may still call an abomination.
ABOMINATION, n. 1. Extreme hatred; detestation. 2. The object of detestation; a common signification in Scripture. 3. Hence, defilement, pollution, in a physical sense, or evil doctrines and practices, which are moral defilements; idols and idolatry are called abominations.
Modern culture has rendered this word nearly obsolete, dismissing it as antiquated religious bigotry. Where Scripture speaks of specific acts as abominable before God, contemporary society reframes such language as "hateful," "phobic," or "intolerant." The cultural project has been to empty the word of objective moral content and replace divine judgment with human approval. The result is a generation that calls evil good and labels those who retain the biblical definition as the true abomination.
• Proverbs 6:16–19 — "These six things the LORD hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him…"
• Leviticus 18:22 — "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination."
• Proverbs 12:22 — "Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, but those who act faithfully are his delight."
• Revelation 21:27 — "But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false…"
• Isaiah 5:20 — "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil…"
H8441 — tô'ēbāh (תּוֹעֵבָה): abomination, something disgusting, detestable thing. Used ~117× in OT, most often for idolatry and sexual immorality.
H6292 — piggûl (פִּגּוּל): something foul, an abomination, often in priestly/ritual contexts.
G946 — bdelugma (βδέλυγμα): abomination, a foul or detestable thing; used in Matthew 24:15 ("abomination of desolation") and Revelation.
• "A just weight is the LORD's delight, but a false balance is an abomination to Him." (Proverbs 11:1)
• The prophet declared that the nation's child sacrifices were not merely unethical but an abomination — they provoked God to righteous fury.
• A biblical worldview does not soften what God calls an abomination to avoid cultural discomfort; love for neighbor includes warning them of divine judgment.