פִּגּוּל

From the study of Isaiah 65:4

Range of meaning

A rare priestly term, found only in Leviticus 7:18, 19:7, Ezekiel 4:14 and here: sacrificial meat that has gone "off," eaten after the permitted time limit (the third day), so the offering becomes disgusting and unacceptable. The basic idea is foul, rotting, rejected meat.

Against the English

KJV and WEB say "abominable things," BSB "polluted broth," NASB "unclean meat," NIV "impure meat," ESV "tainted meat." "Abominable" sounds like general moral outrage; the Hebrew is a precise ritual category of spoiled offering meat.

How it drifted

"Abominable" (from Latin abominabilis) shifted in English toward generic moral horror. The Hebrew word belongs to the technical vocabulary of the sacrificial system.

Used elsewhere in the period

Leviticus 7:18: if fellowship-offering meat is eaten on the third day "it will not be accepted… it is piggul." Leviticus 19:7 says the same. In Ezekiel 4:14 the priest-prophet protests that "piggul meat" has never entered his mouth. Later rabbinic law (Mishnah, tractate Zevachim) uses piggul for an offering ruined by improper intention, a development after the biblical period.

From the study of Ezekiel 4:14

Range of meaning

A foul or offensive thing. In the Torah it is specifically sacrificial meat from a peace (fellowship) offering that has been kept and eaten past its time limit, on the third day (Lev 7:18; 19:7). In Isaiah 65:4 it appears in the plural for 'broth of foul things' used in illegitimate cult meals.

Against the English

KJV/WEB: 'abominable flesh'; BSB: 'unclean meat'; ESV: 'tainted meat'; NIV: 'impure meat'. Most English versions make it a general word for disgusting or unclean meat and lose its specific link to the sacrifices.

How it drifted

Translators moved toward a general meaning because 'stale sacrificial leftovers' means nothing to readers today. 'Abominable' now suggests moral horror, which takes it further from the original sense.

Used elsewhere in the period

Leviticus 7:18 ('it is piggul, and the one who eats it shall bear his iniquity'); 19:7; Isaiah 65:4. The Septuagint here translates it kreas heōlon, 'stale (day-old) meat', which supports the time-limit sense. Milgrom (Leviticus 1–16) treats it as a technical term for sacrificial meat that has become desecrated. The Mishnah later narrowed it further, to an offering ruined by the intention to eat it out of time. That is a rabbinic refinement and should not be read back into Ezekiel.

From the study of Leviticus 7:18

Range of meaning

Foul, spoiled or offensive meat, specifically sacrificial meat that has become unfit. It occurs only four times in the Hebrew Bible: Lev 7:18; Lev 19:7 (the same third-day rule); Isa 65:4 (a 'broth of piggul things' eaten by people practising illicit rites); Ezek 4:14 (Ezekiel protests that 'piggul meat' has never entered his mouth, next to carcasses and torn animals). The etymology is uncertain. Lexicons (BDB 'foul thing, refuse'; HALOT 'unclean, spoiled meat') agree that it refers to meat that is rotten or ritually disgusting.

Against the English

KJV, BSB, WEB and NRSV say 'abomination,' and YLT says 'abominable thing.' Other versions reach for narrower words: ESV 'tainted,' NASB 'offensive thing,' NIV 'impure.' 'Abomination' is too big and the wrong shape. It suggests moral horror, and English readers hear it as the same word used in Lev 18:22 or Proverbs.

How it drifted

The KJV tradition used 'abomination' for several different Hebrew words: piggul, sheqets (unclean creatures, Lev 11) and to'evah (Lev 18:22, Deut 14:3, Prov 6:16). English readers can't see the difference, so they treat the three as one category.

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX renders it 'miasma' (defilement) here and 'athyton' ('unfit for sacrifice') in Lev 19:7. Both translations treat it as a cultic status, not a moral one. In the Mishnah (tractate Zevachim 2–3) piggul became a technical legal category: a sacrifice made invalid because the priest intended, while offering it, to eat it outside its permitted time.