Bible Dictionary
SACRILEGE
Sacrilege is the profaning or robbing of a temple or sacred place. Biblical usage includes the charge of robbing temples and the description of an act against sacred property.
Definition
Sacrilege is the profaning or robbing of sacred property or a temple. In the biblical vocabulary the term is more precisely rendered “rob temples” in some passages, while a related noun describes an act or person guilty of sacrilege.
Biblical Usage
Romans 2:22 uses the expression “rob temples” in place of “commit sacrilege.” Acts 19:37 refers to “robbers of temples,” and 2 Maccabees 4:39 applies the related noun to an act of sacrilege.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>sak'-ri-lej: For "commit sacrilege" in Ro 2:22 (the King James Version and the English Revised Version margin), the Revised Version (British and American) has "rob temples," which more exactly expresses the meaning of the verb (hierosuleo; compare Ac 19:37, "robbers of temples" (which see)). The noun occurs in 2 Macc 4:39 (the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American)) for the corresponding form hierosulema.</p>