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Zion

• Today same place as Jerusalem

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History

Zion is a name rather than a single hill: in Jerusalem it has been attached in turn to three different heights. The Bible first uses it for "the strong hold of Zion", the fortified town of the Jebusites on the narrow eastern ridge above the Gihon spring, which David took and called the City of David. The meaning of the name is uncertain, and it is probably older than Israel.

When Solomon brought the ark up "out of the city of David, which is Zion" into the new Temple, the name went up with it. In the Psalms and the prophets Zion is the holy hill where the Lord dwells, that is, the Temple Mount, and by extension the whole city and its people: "out of Zion shall go forth the law". The exiles in Babylon wept when they remembered Zion. 1 Maccabees still calls the Temple hill mount Sion when Judas Maccabeus cleansed the sanctuary in 164 BC, and in the New Testament mount Sion stands for the heavenly Jerusalem.

The last move was to the higher western hill. Josephus, writing after AD 70, took the hill of the upper city to be the stronghold of David, though he never calls it Zion. By the fourth century Christians gave the name to this hill. The pilgrim from Bordeaux, in 333, climbed Sion past the house of Caiaphas and was shown the place of David's palace and the one synagogue left of seven. Eusebius' Onomasticon places Golgotha north of Mount Zion.

Here Christian tradition put the upper room. About 350 Cyril of Jerusalem spoke of the Upper Church of the Apostles, where the Spirit came down at Pentecost; Epiphanius, late in the century, tells of a small church on Zion that had survived since Hadrian's day; Egeria, in the 380s, describes the Pentecost services held in Sion. In the fifth century a new wall, which the Piacenza pilgrim credits to the Empress Eudocia, took Zion back inside the city, and by the sixth the church was hailed as holy Sion, mother of all churches. The western hill keeps the name Mount Zion today.

Scripture: 2 Sam 5:7; 1 Kgs 8:1; Ps 2:6; Isa 2:3; Ps 137:1; Heb 12:22; Acts 2:1–4

Checked against its sources; not yet read by a historian.

Verses (148)

2 Sam 5:7

Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David.

1 Kgs 8:1

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.

2 Kgs 19:21

This is the word that the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.

1 Chr 11:5

And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Thou shalt not come hither. Nevertheless David took the castle of Zion, which is the city of David.

2 Chr 5:2

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.

Ps 2:6

Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

Ps 9:11

Sing praises to the LORD, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the people his doings.

Ps 9:14

That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.

Ps 14:7

Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

Ps 20:2

Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion;

Ps 48:12

Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.

Ps 50:2

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.

Ps 51:18

Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.

Ps 53:6

Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

Ps 65:1

Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed.

Ps 69:35

For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession.

Ps 76:2

In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion.

Ps 84:5

Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.

Ps 84:7

They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.

Ps 87:2

The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

Ps 87:5

And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her.

Ps 97:8

Zion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O LORD.

Ps 99:2

The LORD is great in Zion; and he is high above all the people.

Ps 102:13

Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.

Ps 102:16

When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory.

Ps 102:21

To declare the name of the LORD in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;

Ps 110:2

The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.

Ps 126:1

When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.

Ps 128:5

The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.

Ps 129:5

Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.

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King James Version