What are Abominations?

First, we will start with the definition of abomination.

In English, the word “abomination” means a thing that causes disgust or hatred. - Merriam-Webster.

Strong’s Lexicon: In Hebrew the word “abomination” is tôʿēbah 8441 it means a disgusting thing, abomination, abominable; something disgusting, an abhorrence, idolatry, an idol

Strong’s Lexicon: In Greek, the word “abomination” is bdelugma 946; it means a detestable thing; an abominable thing, an accursed thing.
HELPS Word-studies: 946 bdélygma (from 948 /bdelýssō, derived from bdēō, "to reek with"stench")—properly, what emits a foul odor and hence is disgustingly abhorrent (abominable, detestable); (figuratively) moral horror as a stench to God (like when people refuse to hear and obey His voice).

In Revelation 17, it gives us insight into who is behind abominations.

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.” And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality, and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”
Revelation 17:1-5 NASB® 1995

Some spirits present sin to humans. We must choose if we are going to partake of it. One example is when Satan presented temptation to Eve and Jesus. We must decide if we will partake of the temptation presented to us or hold fast to the word of God. This spirit is called Babylon the Great, Mother of Harlots, and the abominations of the earth. It presents sin opportunities like Satan. We must choose if we are going to take part in them or not.

Now we will see what some abominations are.

In Deuteronomy 32, we see what some abominations are.

“But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked⁠—
You are grown fat, thick, and sleek⁠—
Then he forsook God who made him,
And scorned the Rock of his salvation.
“They made Him jealous with strange gods;
With abominations they provoked Him to anger.
“They sacrificed to demons who were not God,
To gods whom they have not known,
New gods who came lately,
Whom your fathers did not dread.
“You neglected the Rock who begot you,
And forgot the God who gave you birth.
“The LORD saw this, and spurned them
Because of the provocation of His sons and daughters.
“Then He said, ‘I will hide My face from them,
I will see what their end shall be;
For they are a perverse generation,
Sons in whom is no faithfulness.
‘They have made Me jealous with what is not God;
They have provoked Me to anger with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,
For a fire is kindled in My anger,
And burns to the lowest part of Sheol,
And consumes the earth with its yield,
And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
Deuteronomy 32:15-22 NASB® 1995

This section of scripture shows us that when we forsake God, we make Him jealous by worshiping strange gods. It goes on to say that they sacrificed to demons who were not God. If we do these things, it is disgusting to God. These are abominations; practicing these things provokes God to anger.

1 Corinthians 10 shows that God is the same in the New Covenant as in the Old Covenant with Moses. Paul tells us this.

No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?
1 Corinthians 10:20-22 NASB® 1995

It shows here that we cannot partake both of what the Lord gives and partake of demonic things. He will be provoked to jealousy. We may not think much about sacrificing to God or partaking of the table of God in our culture today; we also may not think much about partaking of demons and the things they serve, but this is something that must be pondered. We are partaking of one or the other.

Strong’s Lexicon: The Greek word “sacrifice” is thuō 2380 it means To sacrifice, to slay, to kill
HELPS Word-Studies: 2380 thýō – to kill as a sacrifice and offer on an altar. 2380 /thýō ("sacrifice") means more than "kill" as it also suggests offering something as a spiritual sacrifice.

The English word “sacrifice” means a surrender of something of value as a means of gaining something more desirable or of preventing some evil. From thefreedictionary.com: Collins English Dictionary

1. a surrender of something of value as a means of gaining something more desirable or of preventing some evil
2. a ritual killing of a person or animal with the intention of propitiating or pleasing a deity
3. a symbolic offering of something to a deity
4. the person, animal, or object surrendered, destroyed, killed, or offered
5. a religious ceremony involving one or more sacrifices
6. loss entailed by giving up or selling something at less than its value

Now we need to examine our lives against scripture and ask the Lord if what we sacrifice is to demons. Romans 12 says we are to be living sacrifices.

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable, and perfect.
Romans 12:1-2 NASB® 1995

We must examine the things we participate in. Are our lives a living sacrifice to God? Or do we sacrifice to get things on this earth to fulfill our own goals, desires, and pleasures? If we are not sacrificing to God, then by default we are sacrificing to demons. We are either eating from the table of God or the table of demons.

In the New Covenant, God says His laws will be written in our hearts, and we will remove abominations from our lives. It is an abomination to take part in what demons serve to people.

Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries among which you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.”’ When they come there, they will remove all its detestable things and all its abominations from it. And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God. But as for those whose hearts go after their detestable things and abominations, I will bring their conduct down on their heads,” declares the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 11:17-21 NASB® 1995

This is a New Covenant promise that God has given us: that we will have one heart and a new spirit. He will remove the heart of stone, and His people will desire to remove the detestable things and abominations out of their lives.

Here are some more verses on abominations that give us more understanding of what is disgusting to God.

The graven images of their gods you are to burn with fire; you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, or you will be snared by it, for it is an abomination to the LORD your God. You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and like it come under the ban; you shall utterly detest it and you shall utterly abhor it, for it is something banned.
Deuteronomy 7:25-26 NASB® 1995

We are not to bring any form of wickedness into our house. This can be all kinds of things that our culture considers completely fine and acceptable. These things may even be acceptable in the Christian world, but they are not to God.

Now we will look at God's people who worship with abominations mixed in.

It came about in the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell on me there. Then I looked, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of a man; from His loins and downward there was the appearance of fire, and from His loins and upward the appearance of brightness, like the appearance of glowing metal. He stretched out the form of a hand and caught me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the idol of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy, was located. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the appearance which I saw in the plain. Then He said to me, “Son of man, raise your eyes now toward the north.” So I raised my eyes toward the north, and behold, to the north of the altar gate was this idol of jealousy at the entrance. And He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations which the house of Israel are committing here, so that I would be far from My sanctuary? But yet you will see still greater abominations.” Then He brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. He said to me, “Son of man, now dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall, and behold, an entrance. And He said to me, “Go in and see the wicked abominations that they are committing here.” So I entered and looked, and behold, every form of creeping things and beasts and detestable things, with all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around. Standing in front of them were seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them, each man with his censer in his hand and the fragrance of the cloud of incense rising. Then He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are committing in the dark, each man in the room of his carved images? For they say, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.’” And He said to me, “Yet you will see still greater abominations which they are committing.” Then He brought me to the entrance of the gate of the LORD’S house which was toward the north; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Yet you will see still greater abominations than these.” Then He brought me into the inner court of the LORD’S house. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east; and they were prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun. He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they have committed here, that they have filled the land with violence and provoked Me repeatedly? For behold, they are putting the twig to their nose. Therefore, I indeed will deal in wrath. My eye will have no pity nor will I spare; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet I will not listen to them.”
Ezekiel 8:1-18 NASB® 1995

Verses 8-9 talk about carvings on the wall of creeping things, beasts, detestable things, and idols that they have. These are abominations to God, and the 70 elders are worshipping in the room with them. These carvings represent demons. Things in our world represent demons; we must be aware of this, and we must be aware we are not to engage with them; to engage with them is taking part in them (Deuteronomy 32:17, 1 Corinthians 10:20-22).

Now let's look at Tammuz in verse 14, who the women are weeping for.
From the Literal Word App: ”Tammuz” means sprout of life, a Sumerian deity of food and vegetation.

Here is more historical information about Tammuz from Biblicaltraining.org.
TAMMUZ (tăm'ŭz, Heb. tammûz). A fertility god widely worshiped in Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine; equivalent to Osiris in Egypt and Adonis of the Greeks. His consort was the goddess Ishtar (Astarte or Ashtoreth). Their cult involved licentious rites. Tammuz was supposed to have been killed by a wild boar while shepherding his flocks. His wife rescued him from the underworld. His death was taken to represent the onset of winter. The long dry season was broken by spring rains when he came to life again. The fourth month of the Babylonian and later Jewish calendar was named for him (June-July). The only mention of him in the Bible occurs in connection with the custom of women mourning for him (Ezek.8.14), which, being observed at the very gate of the temple of the true God, seemed to the prophet one of the most abominable idolatries. His Greek name, Adonis, is derived from the Phoenician and Hebrew word for “Lord.” - Biblicaltraining.org

In our culture, we don't hear about this Tammuz, but you may have heard of its consort, Ishtar or Eostre. These pagan deities are celebrating fertility and sex during the spring equinox. The practices from the pagan worship have gotten mixed in with Passover practices.

Have you ever wondered why, when we are supposed to be celebrating Jesus as the Passover lamb, eggs, and bunnies are involved?

We are supposed to be celebrating Jesus and laying down his life to create a new covenant for us.

So how does this have anything to do with eggs and bunnies?

If you do a little digging into history, you will find that these holidays got merged to become Easter. Most Jews celebrate Passover without Jesus because they celebrate under the Old Covenant of Moses. Most Christians celebrate Easter and say they are worshipping Jesus, yet have mixed in pagan practices with their worship. There is no mention of the word Easter in Greek writings.

The disciples in scripture celebrated Jesus as the Passover lamb and the resurrection of Jesus.
Jesus tells us this in Mark 14.

While they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is My body.” And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.
Mark 14:22-24 NASB® 1995

Jeremiah foretells of this covenant God will make with His people. This is the covenant which Jesus poured his blood out for.

“Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Jeremiah 31:31-34 NASB® 1995

Paul tells how to celebrate God’s love feast. We are to partake of the table of the Lord without sin.

Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
1 Corinthians 5:7-8 NASB® 1995

To sum it up, the way we are to celebrate the feast of the Lord is without mixing into our worship pagan practices, and we are to remove sin from our lives. We should never participate in anything demons offer. If we don't do this, then it is not any different than the children of God under the Moses Covenant worshiping in the name of the Lord but engaging with demons/pagan deities. We saw from Ezekiel 8 that doing this is an abomination to God. You can do more study on this in Exodus 32 when Aaron made a calf and proclaimed they would have a feast for Jehovah. This is not only about the Lord's feast and partaking of the Lord's supper; this is about how we live our everyday lives.

Do we eat from the table of demons?
Do we celebrate demonic things?
Do we participate in anything evil, even if it is painted pretty?

We must thoroughly examine ourselves and be willing to remove everything that is an abomination to God. By doing this, we can partake of His new covenant promise of being one heart and one mind with Him.

Here are more abominations for us to learn about.

There are six things which the LORD hates,
Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:
Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
And hands that shed innocent blood,
A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that run rapidly to evil,
A false witness who utters lies,
And one who spreads strife among brothers.
Proverbs 6:16-19 NASB® 1995

For the devious are an abomination to the LORD;
But He is intimate with the upright.
Proverbs 3:32 NASB® 1995

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD,
But the prayer of the upright is His delight.
The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD,
But He loves one who pursues righteousness.
Proverbs 15:8-9 NASB® 1995

He who turns away his ear from listening to the law,
Even his prayer is an abomination.
Proverbs 28:9 NASB® 1995

Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD;
Assuredly, he will not be unpunished.
By lovingkindness and truth iniquity is atoned for, And by the fear of the LORD one keeps away from evil.
Proverbs 16:5-6 NASB® 1995

There are so many scriptures to learn about abominations; this is simply a start to them. It is very important to ponder what abominations are because in Revelations it says that no one who practices abominations will enter into the holy city, Jerusalem (Revelation 21:10–27).

I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Revelation 21:22-27 NASB® 1995

We need to understand that not only can we practice abominations, but we can become abominable.

But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Revelation 21:8 NASB® 1995

Strong’s Lexicon: The word “abominable” is the Greek word bdelussomai 948 ; it means to abhor, detest, loathe.
HELPS Word-studies: 948 bdelýssō – properly, stink, become foul (abhorrent), detestable as stench; "to strongly detest something on the basis that it is abominable—'to abhor, to abominate'"

Abominable means repugnantly hateful; detestable. From thefreedictionary.com: Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary.

1. repugnantly hateful; detestable; loathsome.
2. very unpleasant; disagreeable: abominable weather.
3. very bad; poor in quality; inferior

References:

Tammuz historical information: https://www.biblicaltraining.org/library/tammuz
Strong’s Lexicon: BibleHub.com
MERRIAM-WEBSTER ONLINE (www.Merriam-Webster.com) copyright © 2012 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.
- “Abomination.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abomination. Accessed 25 Apr. 2025.
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003,2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
- "SACRIFICE." Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014. 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014. HarperCollins Publishers 27 Apr. 2025 https://www.thefreedictionary.com/sacrifice
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005,1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
- "abominable." Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary. 2010. 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. 29 Apr. 2025 https://www.thefreedictionary.com/abominable

1 Heart 1 MindMay 2, 2025