Bible Strands
Mark 13:14
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses his disciples during the Olivet discourse, outlining events that will follow their current conversation. He speaks to them as future witnesses who must respond to a specific prophetic sign with immediate action.
The words — βδέλυγμα (bdelugma) translates literally to "abomination" and ἐρημώσεως (erēmōseōs) to "desolation," combining into a fixed prophetic phrase.
The thread — The phrase appears in Daniel 9:27, Daniel 11:31, and Daniel 12:11 as a marker for temple desecration and halted sacrifice. Mark 13:14 applies this Danielic image to a future event that triggers a geographic command.
Why it lands — The text issues a direct imperative to flee Judea when the sign appears, prioritizing physical safety over attachment to home or property. It requires the reader to treat the warning as a practical directive for immediate obedience rather than a subject for delayed analysis.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judea flee to the mountains:
Cross-references
- Daniel 9:27 And he will confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of the temple will come the abomination that causes desolation, until the decreed destruction is poured out upon him.”
- Daniel 12:11 And from the time the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation set up, there will be 1,290 days.
- Daniel 11:31 His forces will rise up and desecrate the temple fortress. They will abolish the daily sacrifice and set up the abomination of desolation.
- Matthew 24:15 So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand),
- Luke 21:20 But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you will know that her desolation is near.
- Lamentations 1:10 The adversary has seized all her treasures. For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary—those You had forbidden to enter Your assembly.
- Ezekiel 44:9 This is what the Lord GOD says: No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh may enter My sanctuary—not even a foreigner who lives among the Israelites.
- Daniel 8:13 Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to him, “How long until the fulfillment of the vision of the daily sacrifice, the rebellion that causes desolation, and the surrender of the sanctuary and of the host to be trampled?”
- Acts 8:30 So Philip ran up and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
- 1 Corinthians 14:20 Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.