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).

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