📖 Biblical Definition
Jerusalem is the city God chose to put His name (Deut 12:5, 2 Chron 6:6). Captured by David from the Jebusites, expanded by Solomon, adorned with the temple, carried into exile by Babylon, rebuilt by the returned exiles, enlarged by Herod, destroyed by Rome in AD 70, and standing today still contested. Its religious significance is foundational: the temple was there, the Messiah wept over it, taught in it, was crucified outside it, rose near it, ascended from its Mount of Olives, and will return to its very hills (Zech 14:4, Acts 1:11-12). Hebrews 12 and Revelation 21 lift the reader's eyes to "the heavenly Jerusalem" — "the city of the living God" — the true metropolis of which every earthly Jerusalem is sign, foretaste, and foreshadow. God weeps over Jerusalem (Jesus' lament, Luke 19:41-44); believers are citizens of the Jerusalem above (Gal 4:26).
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
JE-RU'SA-LEM, n.
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JE-RU'SA-LEM. The ancient capital of the kingdom of Judah, seated on a ridge of hills on the borders of Judah and Benjamin, about thirty-five miles east of the Mediterranean sea; the city of David, the site of the temple of Solomon, of the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord, of the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, and of the first Christian church; destroyed by the Romans in A. D. 70, and afterward rebuilt and besieged many times. Typically, Jerusalem is the figure of the heavenly city, the Jerusalem above, which is the mother of all believers, whose builder and maker is God.
📖 Key Scripture
Psalm 122:6 — "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May they be secure who love you!"
Luke 19:41-42 — "When he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!""
Revelation 21:2 — "And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."
Galatians 4:26 — "But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Jerusalem is pulled in every political direction in modern discourse; Scripture's Jerusalem is simultaneously a real city to pray for and a heavenly city to belong to.
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No major postmodern redefinition of this place. The risk is that the geographic-symbolic resonance Scripture builds with it gets lost — modern readers skim past place-names that the biblical writers used as shorthand for whole histories.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
H3389 — Yerushalayim (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם) — Jerusalem.
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H3389 — Yerushalayim (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם) — Jerusalem; foundation/city of peace.
G2419 — Ierousalēm (Ἰερουσαλήμ) — Jerusalem; Hebrew-form used in NT especially in theological contexts.
G2414 — Hierosolyma (Ἱεροσόλυμα) — Jerusalem; Greek-form used in NT especially in political/geographical contexts.
Usage
"Jesus wept over Jerusalem. A Christian who feels nothing for this city has not yet felt what the Savior felt."
"You belong to the Jerusalem above. Pray for the one below; long for the one above; live with both eyes open."