Dictionaries :: Pollution

International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia

Pollution:

po-lu'-shun (ga'al, "to pollute"; alisgema, "contamination"): In Mal 1:7, "Ye offer polluted bread," i.e. not actually unclean, but worthless, common (compare Ezr 2:62), bread here being used metonymically for sacrificial offerings generally (compare Le 21:6; Mt 6:11). The phrase in Ac 15:20, "the pollutions of idols," is explained in 15:29 by "things sacrificed (the King James Version "meats offered") to idols."

Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words

Pollution:

akin to a late verb alisgeo, "to pollute," denotes "a pollution, contamination," Act 15:20, "pollutions of idols," i.e., all the contaminating associations connected with idolatry including meats from sacrifices offered to idols.

Note: For miasma, AV, "pollutions," in 2Pe 2:20, see DEFILEMENT, B, No. 1.