Jerusalem

Jerusalem enters scripture as Salem, the seat of Melchizedek the priest of God Most High (Gen 14:18), and as Jebus, a Jebusite stronghold inside Benjamin's allotment (Jos 18:28; Jdg 19:10). David captures it, makes it his royal city, and brings up the ark; Solomon builds the temple on Mount Moriah. The city becomes the capital of David's line, the focus of prophetic complaint and prophetic hope, the object of Sennacherib's failed siege and Nebuchadnezzar's successful one, and after the exile is rebuilt by Zerubbabel and Nehemiah under Persian charter. In the Hellenistic crisis it is profaned, recaptured, and rededicated by the Maccabees. In the Gospels it is the city Jesus enters, cleanses, and weeps over. In the New Testament's last horizon it is the heavenly Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven.

Salem of Melchizedek

The earliest notice puts a king-priest of Salem at the head of the city's history: "And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was priest of God Most High" (Gen 14:18). The Psalmist later identifies Salem with Zion: "In Salem also is his tabernacle, And his dwelling-place in Zion" (Ps 76:2). The mountain Abraham is sent to for the binding of Isaac is named in the same horizon — "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, even Isaac, and go into the land of Moriah. And offer him there for a burnt-offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of" (Gen 22:2) — and Chronicles makes the identification explicit: "Then Solomon began to build the house of Yahweh at Jerusalem on mount Moriah, where [Yahweh] appeared to David his father, which he made ready in the place that David had appointed, in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite" (2Ch 3:1).

The Jebusite stronghold

By the time of the conquest the city is held by Adoni-zedek, who joins a southern coalition against Joshua: "Now it came to pass, when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai..." (Jos 10:1). The town falls within Benjamin's tribal portion (Jos 18:28), but neither Judah nor Benjamin dispossesses its inhabitants. "And as for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the sons of Judah could not drive them out: but the Jebusites dwell with the sons of Judah at Jerusalem to this day" (Jos 15:63); "And the sons of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day" (Jdg 1:21). In the Levite's outrage the place is still called Jebus: "But the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed, and came opposite Jebus (the same is Jerusalem)" (Jdg 19:10).

David takes the city

The capture is a personal undertaking by the new king. "And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying, Except you take away the blind and the lame, you will not come in here; thinking, David can't come in here" (2Sa 5:6). "Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David" (2Sa 5:7). Chronicles names the captain who scales the height: "And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem (the same is Jebus)... And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, You will not come in here. Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David. And David said, Whoever strikes the Jebusites first will be chief and captain. And Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, and was made chief. And David dwelt in the stronghold; therefore they called it the city of David" (1Ch 11:4-7). David's reign there is then recorded as the longer half of his rule: "seven years he reigned in Hebron, and thirty and three years he reigned in Jerusalem" (1Ki 2:11). The royal city stays his even when the kingdom shakes — Joab campaigns from there against Ammon while "David tarried at Jerusalem" (2Sa 11:1); David flees from there before Absalom (2Sa 15:14); he returns to it after the revolt (2Sa 20:3).

The ark moves up to the city

Once the stronghold is his, David fetches the ark. "And it was told King David, saying, Yahweh has blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that pertains to him, because of the ark of God. And David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with joy. And it was so, that, when those who bore the ark of Yahweh had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. And David danced before Yahweh with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of Yahweh with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet" (2Sa 6:12-15). From this moment Jerusalem is the worship center of Israel.

Solomon's temple

The dynastic oracle to David anchors the temple in his son: "He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever" (2Sa 7:13). Solomon takes up the charge: "And, look, I purpose to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, as Yahweh spoke to David my father, saying, Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, he will build the house for my name" (1Ki 5:5). Construction begins "in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Ziv" (1Ki 6:1). At the dedication Solomon prays, "I have surely built you a house of habitation, a place for you to dwell in forever" (1Ki 8:13), having first assembled "the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes... to King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh out of the city of David, which is Zion" (1Ki 8:1). The Queen of Sheba comes "to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bore spices" to test him (1Ki 10:2). Ben Sira looks back on the building as the climax of Solomon's reign: "Solomon reigned in days of peace, And God gave him rest round about. He prepared a house for his name, And established a sanctuary forever" (Sir 47:13).

A divided-kingdom capital

After the schism, Jerusalem remains the southern capital and the recurrent target of foreign and intra-Israelite pressure. "And it came to pass in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem" (1Ki 14:25). Jehoash of Israel breaches the wall: "And Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah... at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits" (2Ki 14:13; cf. 2Ch 25:23). Rezin and Pekah besiege Ahaz there but cannot take the city (2Ki 16:5). Royal upkeep of the temple structure runs through the period: priests fund repairs "wherever any breach will be found" (2Ki 12:5), and Josiah's officers deliver silver "into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of Yahweh... to repair the breaches of the house" (2Ki 22:5). The Psalmists name the city as the dwelling of the great King: "There is a river, the streams of which make glad the city of God, The holy of the tabernacles of the Most High" (Ps 46:4); "Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, Is mount Zion, [on] the sides of the north, The city of the great King" (Ps 48:2); "Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God. Selah" (Ps 87:3). The worshipper turns toward the temple: "But as for me, in the abundance of your loving-kindness I will come into your house: In your fear I will worship toward your holy temple" (Ps 5:7); "I will worship toward your holy temple, And give thanks to your name for your loving-kindness and for your truth" (Ps 138:2). Isaiah hails it as "the holy city" (Is 48:2; Is 52:1) and names it Ariel — "Ho Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped!" (Is 29:1).

Sennacherib's siege

Hezekiah's reign brings the Assyrian crisis. "Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them. And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended... And Hezekiah gave [him] all the silver that was found in the house of Yahweh, and in the treasures of the king's house. At that time Hezekiah cut off [the gold from] the doors of the temple of Yahweh, and [from] the pillars... and gave it to the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rab-saris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah with a great army to Jerusalem" (2Ki 18:13-17). Hezekiah carries the threatening letter into the temple: "And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of Yahweh, and spread it before Yahweh. And Hezekiah prayed... O Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sits [above] the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth... save us, I urge you, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you Yahweh are God alone" (2Ki 19:14-19). The deliverance is given in oracle and act: "He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither will he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it... For I will defend this city to save it, for [the sake of my Speech], and for my slave David's sake. And it came to pass that night, that the angel of Yahweh went forth, and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians" (2Ki 19:32-35). Earlier defensive memory of these breaches surfaces in Isaiah: "And you⁺ saw the breaches of the city of David, that they were many; and you⁺ gathered together the waters of the lower pool" (Is 22:9).

Prophetic indictment and the Babylonian destruction

The prophets of the late monarchy turn the city's name into an object lesson. "For, look, the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah... the whole support of bread, and the whole support of water" (Is 3:1). "And I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling-place of jackals" (Jer 9:11). "And I will make this city an astonishment, and a hissing; everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues" (Jer 19:8). "For I have set my face on this city for evil, and not for good, says Yahweh: it will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire" (Jer 21:10). "[to wit,] Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and its kings, and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse" (Jer 25:18). Amos names the same fire: "but I will send a fire on Judah, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem" (Am 2:5). Micah turns the temple-mountain itself into prophecy of ruin: "Therefore will Zion for your⁺ sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest" (Mic 3:12).

The siege follows the oracle. "And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about. So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. On the ninth day of the [fourth] month the famine was intense in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. Then a breach was made in the city" (2Ki 25:1-4). Earlier Nebuchadnezzar had already besieged it (2Ki 24:10) and "carried out from there all the treasures of the house of Yahweh, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold, which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of Yahweh, as Yahweh had said" (2Ki 24:13). The fall is final: "Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a slave of the king of Babylon, to Jerusalem. And he burned the house of Yahweh, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, he burned with fire. And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were [with] the captain of the guard, broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about" (2Ki 25:8-10; cf. 2Ch 36:19). Asaph laments the same act: "They have set your sanctuary on fire; They have profaned the dwelling-place of your name [by casting it] to the ground" (Ps 74:7); "O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; Your holy temple they have defiled; They have laid Jerusalem in heaps" (Ps 79:1). Isaiah's voice from after the burning is the same: "Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, has burned with fire; and all our pleasant places are laid waste" (Is 64:11). Lamentations weeps the city as widow: "How the city sits solitary, that was full of people! She has become as a widow, that was great among the nations!" (La 1:1); "All who pass by clap their hands at you; They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, [saying,] Is this the city that men called The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?" (La 2:15). Daniel prays the same lament toward the city (Dan 9:16). Ben Sira sums up the disaster around the prophet Jeremiah: "And so the Holy City was burned, And its ways were laid waste, by the hand of Jeremiah" (Sir 49:6).

Restoration: Cyrus, Zerubbabel, Nehemiah

Restoration begins with Persian decree. "Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia... Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth has Yahweh, the God of heaven, given me; and he has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah" (Ezr 1:1-2). The returnees bring offerings: "And some of the heads of fathers' [houses], when they came to the house of Yahweh which is in Jerusalem, offered willingly for the house of God to set it up in its place" (Ezr 2:68). Adversaries oppose them — "Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the sons of the captivity were building a temple to Yahweh, the God of Israel" (Ezr 4:1) — but the king's renewed decree provides funds (Ezr 6:8) and "the elders of the Jews built and prospered, through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia" (Ezr 6:14). Haggai had to rebuke an earlier delay: "Thus speaks Yahweh of hosts, saying, This people say, It is not the time [for us] to come, the time for Yahweh's house to be built" (Hag 1:2). Ezra's prayer of thanks names the city as the goal of every later benefaction: "Blessed be Yahweh, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of Yahweh which is in Jerusalem" (Ezr 7:27). Ben Sira commemorates the rebuilders: "And also Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, Who in their days built the House, And set up on high the Holy Temple, Which was prepared for everlasting glory" (Sir 49:12).

The wall comes later, under Nehemiah. He arrives, surveys the rubble by night, and rallies the city: "So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither did I tell man what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem... And I went out by night by the valley gate... and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and its gates were consumed with fire... Then I said to them, You⁺ see the evil case that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we will no more be a reproach" (Neh 2:11-17). When the work is done the city is repopulated by lot: "And the princes of the people dwelt in Jerusalem: the rest of the people also cast lots, to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem the holy city, and nine parts in the [other] cities" (Neh 11:1). The wall is dedicated with Levitical music: "And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings, and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps... And they offered great sacrifices that day, and rejoiced; for God had made them rejoice with great joy; and the women also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even far off" (Neh 12:27-28, 43). Daniel had foretold this rebuilding within his prophetic timetable: "from the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem, to an anointed leader, [there are] seven weeks. And sixty-two weeks it will be built again, with street and moat, even in troublous times" (Dan 9:25).

Wisdom dwells in Jerusalem; Simon at the temple

Ben Sira locates the resting-place of personified wisdom in the city: "Likewise in the beloved city he caused me to rest, And in Jerusalem was my authority" (Sir 24:11). His later prayer asks for mercy on it directly: "Have mercy upon your holy city, Jerusalem, the place of your dwelling" (Sir 36:13). And his portrait of the high priest Simon emerging from the sanctuary is the second-temple Jerusalem's high-water mark of liturgical glory: "How glorious he was when he looked forth from the tent, And when he came out of the sanctuary. Like a morning star from between the clouds, And like the full moon on the feast-days, Like the sun shining upon the Temple of the King, And like the bow appearing in the cloud" (Sir 50:5-7). The reign-of-Simon notice opens the same chapter: "Was Simeon, the son of Jochanan, the priest. In whose generation the house was renovated, And in whose days the temple was fortified" (Sir 50:1).

The Hellenistic crisis: profanation, recapture, rededication

1 Maccabees narrates the city's profanation under Antiochus and its recovery under the Hasmonean brothers. "And he went up to Jerusalem with a great multitude" (1Macc 1:21); two years later "the king sent the chief collector of his tributes to the cities of Judah, and he came to Jerusalem with a great multitude. And he took the spoils of the city, and burned it with fire, and threw down the houses of it, and the walls of it round about" (1Macc 1:29-31). The result is depopulation: "And the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled away by reason of them, And the city was made the habitation of strangers, And she became a stranger to her own seed, And her children forsook her" (1Macc 1:38). The desecration follows: "On the fifteenth day of the month Kislev, in the hundred and forty-fifth year, they set up the abomination of desolation on the altar, and they built altars in the cities of Judah round about" (1Macc 1:54). Mattathias laments: "Woe is me! Why was I born to see the ruin of my people, And the ruin of the holy city, And to live there, When it is given into the hands of the enemies?" (1Macc 2:7). The royal forces hold the city of David (1Macc 2:31), and the king's commander is given charge "concerning the inhabitants of Judea, and Jerusalem" (1Macc 3:34). The city becomes a ruin: "Now Jerusalem was not inhabited, But was like a desert. There was none of her children who went in or out, And the sanctuary was trodden down. And the foreigners were in the castle, There was the habitation of the nations. And joy was taken away from Jacob, And the pipe and harp ceased there" (1Macc 3:45). The lament-poem names the dead: "The flesh of your saints, And their blood they have shed round about Jerusalem, And there was none to bury them" (1Macc 7:17).

The recovery turns on Judas's ascent. "Then Judas, and his brothers said: Look our enemies are discomfited: let us go up now to cleanse the holy places and to repair them. And all the army assembled together, and they went up into Mount Zion. And they saw the sanctuary desolate, and the altar profaned, and the gates burned, and shrubs growing up in the courts as in a forest, or on the mountains, and the chambers joining to the temple thrown down. And they rent their garments, and made great lamentation, and put ashes on their heads" (1Macc 4:36-39). The rededication is dated and detailed: "And they arose before the morning on the five and twentieth day of the ninth month (which is the month of Kislev) in the hundred and forty-eighth year. And they offered sacrifice according to the law on the new altar of burnt-offerings which they had made. According to the time, and according to the day in which the nations had defiled it, in the same it was dedicated anew with canticles, and harps, and lutes, and cymbals... And they kept the dedication of the altar eight days, and they offered burnt-offerings with joy, and sacrifices of salvation, and of praise. And they adorned the front of the temple with crowns of gold, and settings, and they renewed the gates, and the chambers, and hanged doors on them. And there was exceedingly great joy among the people, and the reproach of the nations was turned away" (1Macc 4:52-58). Antiochus on his deathbed remembers the place: "But now I remember the evils that I have done in Jerusalem, from whence also I took away all the spoils of gold, and of silver that were in it" (1Macc 6:12). Later phases concentrate on the citadel and the wall. Jonathan succeeds Judas: "And Jonathan came to Jerusalem, and read the letters in the hearing of all the people, and of those who were in the castle" (1Macc 10:7); "And Jonathan dwelt in Jerusalem, and began to build, and to repair the city" (1Macc 10:10); the Seleucid concession reads, "And let Jerusalem be holy and free, with the borders of it" (1Macc 10:31). Jonathan returns again and again "into Jerusalem with his people, having many spoils" (1Macc 10:87; cf. 1Macc 11:74). Inner-city wall-work follows: "and to build up walls in Jerusalem, and raise a mount between the castle and the city, to separate it from the city, so that it might have no communication, and that they might neither buy nor sell" (1Macc 12:36). Simon completes the project: "And seeing that the people were in dread, and in fear, he went up to Jerusalem, and assembled the people" (1Macc 13:2); "So gathering together all the men of war, he made haste to finish the walls of Jerusalem, and he fortified it round about" (1Macc 13:10). The citadel itself surrenders: "But those who were in the citadel of Jerusalem were hindered from going out and coming into the country... And they cried to Simon for peace, and he granted it to them: and he cast them out from there, and cleansed the citadel from its defilements. And they entered into it on the twenty-third day of the second month, in the year one hundred and seventy-one, with thanksgiving, and branches of palm trees, and harps, and cymbals... And he ordained that these days should be kept every year with gladness. And he fortified the mountain of the temple that was near the citadel, and he lived there himself" (1Macc 13:49-52). The defense is consolidated: "And he placed there Jews for the defense of the country, and of the city, and he raised up the walls of Jerusalem" (1Macc 14:37); the Seleucid king's confirmation runs, "And let Jerusalem be holy and free, and all the armor that has been made, and the fortresses which you have built" (1Macc 15:7); and at the close of the book another army moves "to take Jerusalem, and the mountain of the temple" (1Macc 16:20).

Jesus's Jerusalem ministry

In John, Jesus's adult ministry is structured around feasts at Jerusalem. "And the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And he found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves... and he made a scourge of cords, and cast all out of the temple... Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews therefore said, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and will you raise it up in three days? But he spoke of the temple of his body" (Jn 2:13-21). Subsequent ascents follow: "After these things there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep [gate] a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethzatha, having five porches" (Jn 5:1-2); "But when the feast was already halfway through, Jesus went up into the temple, and taught" (Jn 7:14). The triumphal entry is reported in both John and Mark. John: "On the next day the great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried out, Hosanna: Blessed [is] he who comes, the King of Israel, in the name of Yahweh. And Jesus, having found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, Don't be afraid, daughter of Zion: look, your King comes, sitting on a donkey's colt" (Jn 12:12-15). Mark: "And when they draw near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sends two of his disciples... And many spread their garments on the way; and others branches, which they had cut from the fields. And those who went before, and those who followed, cried, Hosanna; Blessed [is] he who comes in the name of Yahweh: Blessed [is] the kingdom that comes, [the kingdom] of our father David: Hosanna in the highest. And he entered into Jerusalem, into the temple; and when he had looked around on all things, it being now evening, he went out to Bethany with the twelve" (Mk 11:1-11). The temple action follows the next day: "And they come to Jerusalem: and he entered into the temple, and began to cast out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of those who sold the doves... And he taught, and said to them, Is it not written, My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But you⁺ have made it a den of robbers" (Mk 11:15-17). Luke records the disciples speaking of the temple's ornament: "And as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and offerings, he said..." (Lk 21:5).

The Lukan and Markan sayings turn the city into the prophets' graveyard and the place of Jesus's coming death. "Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the [day] following: for it cannot be that a prophet perishes out of Jerusalem. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, even as a hen [gathers] her own brood under her wings, and you⁺ did not want [to]! Look, your⁺ house is left to you⁺" (Lk 13:33-35). The lament over the city as he comes down from the mount of Olives is explicit prediction of siege: "And when he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, If you had known in this day, even you, the things which belong to peace! But now they are hid from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will cast up a bank about you, and circle you round, and keep you in on every side, and will dash you to the ground, and your children inside you; and they will not leave in you one stone on another; because you didn't know the time of your visitation" (Lk 19:41-44). The eschatological discourse repeats it: "And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations: and Jerusalem will be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Lk 21:24).

Prophetic restoration and the heavenly Jerusalem

Beside the prophetic indictment runs a counter-current of restoration. Isaiah promises, "and I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning: afterward you will be called The city of righteousness, a faithful town" (Is 1:26); "Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city" (Is 52:1). Jeremiah hears Yahweh name the city as a throne: "At that time they will call Jerusalem the throne of Yahweh; and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem" (Jer 3:17). Joel: "So you⁺ will know that I am Yahweh your⁺ God, staying in Zion my holy mountain: then Jerusalem will be holy, and there will no strangers pass through her anymore" (Joel 3:17). Zechariah answers in the same key: "Thus says Yahweh: [By my Speech] I have returned to Zion, and will stay in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem will be called The city of truth; and the mountain of Yahweh of hosts, The holy mountain" (Zec 8:3); "For I have bent Judah for me, I have filled the bow with Ephraim; and I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and will make you as the sword of a mighty man" (Zec 9:13).

In Hebrews and Revelation the city becomes heavenly. "but you⁺ have come to mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to tens of thousands of angels in a festive gathering" (Heb 12:22). "And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband" (Rev 21:2). "And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God" (Rev 21:10). The city begun as Salem of Melchizedek, captured by David, built by Solomon, lamented in ruins, rebuilt under Cyrus, profaned and rededicated under the Maccabees, and entered in tears by Jesus, ends as a city descending from God.