The outside of the cup—gold—looked very rich and appealing; everyone wants wealth. But the content inside is repulsive. The term abominations
gives colour not to man’s (depraved) evaluation of the content but to God’s (holy) evaluation (see further Ezekiel 5:9, Ezekiel 5:11).
4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.