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MARK 13:14 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Mark 13:13Mark 13:15
“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:”
When you see the abomination that causes desolation standing where it does not belong — let the reader understand — then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains — the abomination of desolation from Daniel 8:13 and 9:27 was historically fulfilled in 168 BCE when Antiochus IV Epiphanes placed a statue of Zeus in the temple. Jesus applies the language to a future event in the Jerusalem temple — the desecrating presence that signals the temple's imminent destruction. Let the reader understand is Mark's aside to his readership: pay attention to this specific sign. The instruction to flee to the mountains is practical, urgent, and specifically local (Judea).

Church Fathers on Mark 13:14

Matthew says, standing 'in the holy place;' but with this verbal difference Mark has expressed the same meaning; for He says 'where it ought not' to stand, because it ought not to stand in the holy place.

Augustine · 4th century · de Con Evan, ii, 77

When we are challenged to understand what is said, we may conclude that it is mystical. But it may either be said simply of Antichrist, or of the statue of Caesar, which Pilate put into the temple, or of the equestrian statue of Adrian, which for a long time stood in the holy of holies itself. An idol is also called abomination according to the Old Testament, and He has added 'of desolation' because it was placed in the temple when desolate and deserted.

Bede · 8th century

Or He means by 'the abomination of desolation' the entrance of enemies into the city by violence.

Theophylact · 11th century
Read all 20 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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