Category:Desolation

Des`o*la"tion, n. Etym: [F. désolation, L. desolatio.]

1. The act of desolating or laying waste; destruction of inhabitants; depopulation. Unto the end of the war desolations are determined. Daniel 9:26.

2. The state of being desolated or laid waste; ruin; solitariness; destitution; gloominess. You would have sold your king to slaughter,. . . And his whole kingdom into desolation. Shak.

3. A place or country wasted and forsaken. How is Babylon become a desolation! Jeremiah 1:23.

Syn. -- Waste; ruin; destruction; havoc; devastation; ravage; sadness; destitution; melancholy; gloom; gloominess.

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

Desolation - Abomination of Desolation (Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14; comp Luke 21:20), is interpreted of the eagles, the standards of the Roman army, which were an abomination to the Jews. These standards, rising over the site of the temple, were a sign that the holy place had fallen under the idolatrous Romans. The references are to Daniel 9:27. (See ABOMINATION.)