Vertical and Horizontal Sin: The Hebrew Key to Wickedness and Abominations

Sacred texts often conceal their key teachings behind patterns that only become clear upon closer examination. The Book of Mormon is designed in this way.

Beneath its historical narrative lies a structure of repeated phrases, formulas, and literary patterns that connect its stories and unfold truth to the mind.

When a pattern appears multiple times across different authors and distinct civilizations, it’s important to pause and consider its significance.

A phrase that for some reason has captured my attention for some time is “wickedness and [their] abominations.” (Alma 37:29 incorporates the word “murders” 3 times) At first glance, it seems like normal prophetic language.

After all, prophets tend to warn and condemn. However, the deeper you dig, the more interesting things begin to appear.

You can find this phrase roughly thirty-eight times in the text of the Book of Mormon. It shows up in every major Nephite record except Jarom and Omni, which provide mainly historical notes. The phrase is used by the Lord, Nephi, Jacob, Mosiah, Alma the Younger, Samuel, Nephi III, Mormon, and Moroni.

I was surprised to find that this exact phrase never appears in biblical texts. Not once. The Old Testament contains similar ideas and the words “wickedness” and “abominations” in separate verses and books, but the specific phrase never forms the fixed expression found in the Book of Mormon.

In other words, the concepts presented here are biblical, just not occurring in this exact phraseology.

At first glance, you might think, “Well, so what?”

But this should prompt us to ask why this phrase mattered so much to the Nephite writers. Why did they use it so often? Why pair these two specific words? And why does it emerge around some of the darkest moments in the record?

To answer these questions, we need to explore the Hebrew context behind the English text. Only then does the full meaning of the phrase come into focus.

Note that I’m no where close to being an expert in Hebrew but there is a lot of great scholarship out there and many tools that you can use to explore these ideas. So please feel free to double check my research.

The Meaning of “Wickedness” in the Ancient World

Modern English often reduces “wickedness” to a general moral label. In the Hebrew mindset, it held a much richer meaning. It did not refer to vague moral failings. Instead, it described the breakdown of human relationships and a community that had forgotten how to live justly.

The Hebrew Bible uses several words that English compresses into this single term:

• ra or raʿah – This is the broadest term, meaning harm or destruction. It describes things that are broken or out of balance. When violence spreads or when actions lead to pain and damage, this is the term prophets use. (https://biblehub.com/hebrew/7451.htm)
• reshaʿ – This word belongs in a courtroom. It refers to injustice, corruption, and oppressive behavior that benefits the powerful at the expense of the weak. A rashaʿ person is someone who perverts justice and wields authority as a weapon. (https://biblehub.com/hebrew/7562.htm)
• avon – This term points to twistedness. It describes a morally bent act and its consequences. Avon captures the idea that corruption can spread through a family or community, much like a crack in stone. (https://biblehub.com/hebrew/5771.htm)
• peshaʿ – This term denotes outright rebellion. It is used when someone knowingly breaks a covenant and chooses defiance over loyalty. (https://biblehub.com/hebrew/6588.htm)

These four ideas share a common thread. They describe horizontal corruption, illustrating what occurs when human relationships break down.

Wickedness harms neighbors, twists justice, tramples the poor, and empowers the violent. It deepens when community values degrade and when leaders forget the God who placed them in positions of power.

In short, wickedness violates the second great commandment. It is the failure to love one’s neighbor. (Matt. 22:29)

The Book of Mormon writers understood this well. Whenever Nephite society began to decay from within, wickedness spread first. Injustice multiplied, the poor were oppressed, secret combinations formed, kings and judges fell into pride, and priests taught falsehood for profit. These are the moments when the record warns that wickedness had reached its peak.

But wickedness alone is not enough to cause total destruction. The prophets describe another category that completes the downfall.

The Meaning of “Abominations” in Hebrew

Judaism divides transgression into (https://jewishlink.news/when-we-are-good):

• bein adam le-chaveiro: sins between a person and their fellow
• bein adam la-Makom: sins between a person and God

The English word “abomination” often conveys an emotional response, something disgusting or repulsive. In Hebrew thought, however, it held a precise meaning that was not about personal disgust.

The strongest term linked to this concept is toʿevah but there are others.

• tow`ebah – This is a technical covenant term. It describes actions that breach the sacred boundaries God establishes for His people. It applies to idolatry, false worship, occult practices, child sacrifice, sexual rites tied to pagan temples, and rituals that corrupt true worship of God. (https://biblehub.com/hebrew/8441.htm)
• shiqquts – A related term referring to cultic pollution, defilement linked to idols, and the ritual corruption that follows false worship. (https://biblehub.com/hebrew/8251.htm)
• piggul – A word describing unacceptable sacrifices. offerings that violate the prescribed pattern. (https://biblehub.com/hebrew/6292.htm)
• zimmah – A term for calculated predatory sin, often connected to moral corruption within families or communities. (https://biblehub.com/hebrew/2154.htm)

These terms highlight vertical corruption. They show what happens when the relationship between people and God deteriorates. Abominations signify a breakdown in worship, a loss of covenant faithfulness, and the embrace of false gods or systems.

In covenant terms, abominations breach the first great commandment. They illustrate the failure to love God with all one’s heart. (Matt. 22:27-28)

The Book of Mormon employs this term just as the Hebrew prophets did. False priests, corrupt temples, idolatry, secret oaths, and counterfeit religion all fall under this label.

When the Nephites or Lamanites filled the land with abominations, their covenant with the land began to weaken.

Why the Book of Mormon Pairs the Two Words

This is where the power of the phrase becomes evident. When the Book of Mormon states “wickedness and abominations,” it is not merely repeating itself.

The phrase is not decorative; it is diagnostic. It identifies the moment when a society has broken the covenant in every direction. One word points to the collapse of justice among humans. The other points to the loss of loyalty to God.

A society can endure one of these issues for a time. Israel survived periods of injustice when prophets still guided the people back to God. It also withstood times of idolatry while neighborly kindness held the community together.

But when both collapse simultaneously, destruction follows.

The Book of Mormon illustrates this pattern more clearly than any other ancient text. Whenever a civilization crosses this line, the phrase appears. It signifies that the covenant has been shattered at every level.

It also explains why the writers repeat it frequently. They are not simply describing sin; they are indicating when the protective barrier of the covenant is withdrawn.

Why the Phrase Never Appears in the Bible

The Bible encompasses every concept behind the phrase but never uses the exact wording. It frequently places the ideas close to one another or in the same prophetic context, but the structure never solidifies into the fixed pairing that the Book of Mormon maintains.

This has several implications.

First, it suggests that the Book of Mormon writers were closely connected to older prophetic traditions that may not have fully survived in the biblical record.

Second, it reveals that the Nephite prophets held onto a specific covenant vocabulary that remained consistent throughout their history.

Lastly, it indicates that this phrase served as a kind of internal marker to alert future readers when similar patterns began to emerge in their own societies.

I don’t think that this is a casual phrase, I think it is a preserved formula.

Examples of the Pattern in the Book of Mormon

The Jaredite Civilization
Ether describes a society rife with violence, secret organizations, royal murders, cultic corruption, and total abandonment of God. Their wickedness and abominations were complete. Their destruction was absolute.

Jerusalem before Lehi fled
The record clearly shows that Jerusalem had reached this paired condition. Violence filled the streets. Idolatry existed in the temple. Prophets were mocked, imprisoned, or killed. The covenant collapsed both horizontally and vertically. Babylon’s destruction was the result of this situation.

King Noah
Under his leadership, wickedness spread through heavy taxation, exploitation of labor, indulgence, and the elevation of corrupt priests who taught flattering lies for personal gain. Justice collapsed, the poor suffered, and the people’s resources were drained to support Noah’s excesses. At the same time, abominations flourished. Noah rebuilt the temple as a monument to pride, corrupted its purpose, and cultivated a religious system that masked idolatry under a veneer of legitimacy.

The Nephite Nation
From the rise of secret combinations to corrupt judges and the persecution of believers, wickedness and abominations spread through every level of Nephite society. Mormon marks the turning point clearly. Once the people delighted in bloodshed and turned away from the God of the land, nothing could save them.

The Latter-day Gentiles (3 Nephi 30)
Christ’s warning to the latter-day Gentiles follows the same pattern seen throughout the record. He condemns lies, deceit, theft, envy, and strife as signs of social decay, while naming sorceries, idolatries, and secret abominations as evidence of spiritual corruption. The Gentiles are told to turn from both, because this blend of wickedness and abominations is what destroyed earlier civilizations.

The phrase indicates the tipping point for collapse each time.

Why This Matters Now

The Book of Mormon does not preserve this phrase just for academic interest. It serves as a warning for future generations. The text explicitly states this. When a covenant people begins to normalize injustice, tolerate violence, corrupt worship, embrace false religion, and silence prophets, the pattern repeats.

Wickedness harms the neighbor. Abominations corrupt worship.

Together, they signal that the two great commandments have been broken.

When these two pillars fall, the land withdraws its blessings. The protection tied to the covenant fades. Society becomes fragile. Collapse follows in one form or another.

The Book of Mormon repeats this phrase thirty-eight times, a thread that weaves through almost every major book from beginning to end, so readers will recognize the pattern. It is not meant to simply sit on the page; it is intended to alert readers to the conditions that have destroyed civilizations in the past.

This is not a message of despair. It is a message of clarity.

The same record that warns of destruction also testifies that God is ready to heal, restore, and bless any people who turn back to Him.

The Atonement itself brings the pattern full circle. The cross holds a vertical beam and a horizontal beam, and the symbolism is hard to miss.

The vertical beam reaches upward toward God and reminds us that Christ repairs everything broken in our relationship with the Father.

The horizontal beam stretches outward and reminds us that He heals the damage we create between one another. On the cross, Christ took upon Himself both forms of covenant violation, the sins against God and the sins against our neighbors.

In His sacrifice, the two great commandments meet, and the collapse caused by wickedness and abominations is reversed. Through Him, the covenant is made whole again.

The phrase serves as a signpost. The record preserves it so future generations can recognize the danger well before it arrives if they have eyes to see and ears to hear.