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Compare Luke 17:31; 19:43-44
The šiqqǔṣ mišômēm (שִׁקּוּץ מְשׁמֵם) or, in Greek, the bdelugma tes eremoseos (τὸ βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως), is something mentioned in the book of Daniel and in 1 Maccabbees, and is often rendered “abomination of desolation,” as in the King James Bible. Other renderings include the “desolating sacrilege,” the “abomination that causes desolation,” and even the “disgusting thing.”
In rabbinic Hebrew, “abomination” is a standard term for an idol.
On the first level, the prophecy almost certainly refers to events connected with the Roman destruction of the temple of Jerusalem, which will occur just a few decades later, in AD 70. Luke 21:20-24 — the Lukan equivalent to the Matthean and Markan passages — doesn’t mention the “abomination of desolation” at all. But, Luke 21:20 advises, “when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.”
The LDS Bible Dictionary’s entry on the “abomination of desolation” is helpful, and it picks up on the idea that I mentioned earlier, that these prophecies have a fulfillment in the first century and a second fulfillment yet to come.
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