The Names of Jerusalem in the Synoptic Gospels and Acts

How to cite this article: JP Staff Writer, “The Names of Jerusalem in the Synoptic Gospels and Acts,” Jerusalem Perspective (2023) [https://www.jerusalemperspective.com/26856/].

There are two main designations for the spiritual center of the Jewish world in the Synoptic Gospels and Acts;^[40] these are Ἱεροσόλυμα (Hierosolūma) and Ἰερουσαλήμ (Ierousalēm).

Ἱεροσόλυμα (Hierosolūma) is an adaptation of the name “Jerusalem” to Greek style. This form of the name, which suggests to Greek speakers the meaning “holy Salem,”^[41] hinted at the sanctity of the city and sounded less foreign to the Greek ear than Ἰερουσαλήμ (Ierousalēm),^[42] the other form of “Jerusalem” we encounter in the Synoptic Gospels and in Acts.

Ἰερουσαλήμ (Ierousalēm) is a straightforward transliteration of the Hebrew name יְרוּשָׁלֵם (y^erūshālēm), the ancient vocalization of ירושלם,^[43] which later came to be pronounced as יְרוּשָׁלִַם (y^erūshālaim) with a dual ending. The transition between the older and more recent vocalizations of ירושלם is already attested in the later books of the Hebrew Scriptures, where we find a few instances of the spelling ירושלים (with a yod before the final mem) in the Masoretic Text (MT).^[44] The more recent vocalization with the dual ending is also attested in the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS).^[45] Both the more ancient and the more recent vocalizations appear to have been current in the Hebrew spoken in the first century C.E.^[46]

From what we have learned about the two names already, it should come as no surprise to discover that Greek writers, both Jewish and non-Jewish, generally preferred the Hellenized form of “Jerusalem,” Ἱεροσόλυμα (Hierosolūma), whereas Ἰερουσαλήμ (Ierousalēm) is the form that tends to occur in writings translated from Hebrew originals.^[47] Thus, Ἰερουσαλήμ (Ierousalēm) is the dominant form in the Septuagint (LXX),^[48] but Ἱεροσόλυμα (Hierosolūma) is the form writers such as Philo^[49] and Josephus used regularly.^[50]

Given these preferences it is reasonable to suppose that the uses of the two Greek forms of “Jerusalem” in the Synoptic Gospels could tell us something about the sources upon which they are based or about the audiences for which the Gospels were composed. If, for example, the transliterated form of “Jerusalem” dominates, this might be taken as evidence in support of the theory that the canonical Greek Gospels were originally composed in Hebrew (or Aramaic). On the other hand, if the Hellenized form of “Jerusalem” were found to predominate, this could be cited as evidence to refute this theory.

JP wishes to thank Georgia Clifton for her comments on this article prior to its publication.

• ^[1] In Matthew the form Ἱεροσόλυμα occurs in Matt. 2:1, 3; 3:5; 4:25; 5:35; 15:1; 16:21; 20:17, 18; 21:1, 10. ↩
• ^[2] In Matthew the form Ἰερουσαλήμ occurs in Matt. 23:37 (2xx). ↩
• ^[3] In Mark the form Ἱεροσόλυμα occurs in Mark 3:8, 22; 7:1; 10:32, 33; 11:1, 11, 15, 27; 15:41. ↩
• ^[4] There are no occurrences of Ἰερουσαλήμ in Mark. ↩
• ^[5] In Luke the form Ἱεροσόλυμα occurs in Luke 2:22; 13:22; 19:28; 23:7. ↩
• ^[6] In Luke the form Ἰερουσαλήμ occurs in Luke 2:25, 38, 41, 43, 45; 4:9; 5:17; 6:17; 9:31, 51, 53; 10:30; 13:4, 33, 34 (2xx); 17:11; 18:31; 19:11; 21:20, 24; 23:28; 24:13, 18, 33, 47, 52. ↩
• ^[7] Cf. J. K. Elliott, “Jerusalem in Acts and the Gospels,” New Testament Studies 23.4 (1977): 462-469, esp. 462-463, 468. ↩
• ^[8] On τότε as an indicator of Matthean redaction, see Jesus and a Canaanite Woman, Comment to L22. ↩
• ^[9] On παραλαμβάνειν as a marker of Matthean redaction, see Yeshua’s Testing, Comment to L38. ↩
• ^[10] In Matt. 3:5 the author of Matthew may have inserted a reference to Jerusalem in order to draw a parallel between the areas from which John the Baptist’s audience came and the places from which the crowds flocked to see Jesus (Matt. 4:25). On the tendency to draw parallels between John and Jesus in Matthew, see John P. Meier, “John the Baptist in Matthew’s Gospel,” Journal of Biblical Literature 99.3 (1980): 383-405. ↩
• ^[11] Matthew’s reference to Jerusalem in the passion prediction in Matt. 16:21 may be an example of Matthean cross-pollination with the passion prediction in Matt. 20:18 (∥ Mark 10:33; Luke 18:31). ↩
• ^[12] For discussions of this phenomenon, see J. Vernon Bartlet, “The Twofold Use of ‘Jerusalem’ in the Lucan Writings,” Expository Times 13.4 (1901): 157-158; Adolf Harnack, The Acts of the Apostles (trans. J. R. Wilkinson; London: Williams & Norgate; New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1909), 76-81; Jeremias, “ΙΕΡΟΥΣΑΛΗΜ/ΙΕΡΟΣΟΛΥΜΑ,” 275-276; Elliott, “Jerusalem in Acts and the Gospels,” 462-469; Dennis D. Sylva, “Ierousalēm and Hierosoluma in Luke-Acts,” Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 74.3-4 (1983): 207-221; J. M. Ross, “The Spelling of Jerusalem in Acts,” New Testament Studies 38 (1992): 474-476. ↩
• ^[13] In Acts the form Ἱεροσόλυμα occurs in Acts 1:4; 8:1, 14, 25; 11:27; 13:13; 16:4; 19:21; 20:16; 21:4, 15, 17; 25:1, 7, 9, 15, 20, 24; 26:4, 10, 20; 28:17. ↩
• ^[14] In Acts the form Ἰερουσαλήμ occurs in Acts 1:8, 12 (2xx), 19; 2:5, 14; 4:5, 16; 5:16, 28; 6:7; 8:26, 27; 9:2, 13, 21, 26, 28; 10:39; 11:2, 22; 12:25; 13:27, 31; 15:2, 4; 20:22; 21:11, 12, 13, 31; 22:5, 17, 18; 23:11; 24:11; 25:3. ↩
• ^[15] Cf. Bartlet, “The Twofold Use of ‘Jerusalem’ in the Lucan Writings,” 157. ↩
• ^[16] Jeremias (“ΙΕΡΟΥΣΑΛΗΜ/ΙΕΡΟΣΟΛΥΜΑ,” 275), for example, believed that the Hebraic form Ἰερουσαλήμ emphasized Jerusalem’s sacred aspect whereas Ἱεροσόλυμα emphasized Jerusalem’s profane aspect. Cf. Harnack, The Acts of the Apostles, 78; Josep Rius-Camps, “The Spelling of Jerusalem in the Gospel of John: The Significance of Two Forms in Codex Bezae,” New Testament Studies 48 (2002): 84-94, esp. 85. ↩
• ^[17] Cf. Elliott, “Jerusalem in Acts and the Gospels,” 462-469. ↩
• ^[18] Even more problematic is Elliott’s procrustean evaluation of textual variants. Having decided that Jewish versus Gentile contexts determined Luke’s use of Ἰερουσαλήμ and Ἱεροσόλυμα, Elliott proceeded to adopt those variants that confirmed his theory. This method of text criticism is blatantly unsound. ↩
• ^[19] See Ross, “The Spelling of Jerusalem in Acts,” 474-476. ↩
• ^[20] Simeon’s name takes the Hebraic form Συμεών (Sūmeōn) rather than the Hellenized form Σίμων (Simōn, “Simon”). In addition, Flusser noted the resemblance of Simeon’s “looking for the consolation of Israel” to the Hebrew idiom “May I see the consolation!” (אראה בנחמה) attributed in rabbinic sources to Second Temple period sages. See the “Additional Note” at the end of David Flusser’s “The Times of the Gentiles and the Redemption of Jerusalem,” Jerusalem Perspective (2014). ↩
• ^[21] Flusser (ibid.) also noted the resemblance of “the redemption of Jerusalem” in Luke 2:38 to the slogans “for the redemption of Zion” and “for the freedom of Jerusalem” printed on coins minted during the first- and second-century Jewish revolts against Rome. ↩
• ^[22] Flusser has shown that the Hebraisms in Luke 9:51-53 indicate that these verses were based on a source translated from Hebrew. See David Flusser, “Luke 9:51-56—A Hebrew Fragment,” Whole Stones. ↩
• ^[23] Addresses to the “daughters of Jerusalem” are familiar from the Hebrew Scriptures, especially in Song of Songs, where the בְּנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלִַם (b^enōt y^erūshālaim, “the daughters of Jerusalem”) are addressed no less than seven times. Jesus appears to have had a special affinity for Song of Songs, as allusions to this book occur in other sayings of Jesus. ↩
• ^[24] Haenchen was mistaken when he claimed that Ἱεροσόλυμα in Acts 1:4 “breaks...[the] rule that the Hebraic form Ἰερουσαλήμ...is employed in the speeches of Aramaic[sic!]-speakers.” See Ernst Haenchen, The Acts of the Apostles: A Commentary (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1971), 141 n. 5. Ἱεροσόλυμα in Acts 1:4 is the narrator’s summary of Jesus’ speech. ↩
• ^[25] Cf. Elliott, “Jerusalem in Acts and the Gospels,” 463. ↩
• ^[26] In the second half of Acts there are only three instances of Ἰερουσαλήμ in narration (Acts 21:12, 31; 25:3). The first (Acts 21:12) appears in a verse following direct speech where Ἰερουσαλήμ occurs (Acts 21:11) and indirectly summarizes the speech of Paul’s companions. The second instance of Ἰερουσαλήμ (Acts 21:31) does not record direct speech, but it indirectly reports the content of speech delivered to a military commander. Likewise, the third and final instance of Ἰερουσαλήμ (Acts 25:3), while it does not record direct speech, indirectly reports the content of a request made to the governor Festus. Moreover, the final instance of Ἰερουσαλήμ occurs in a chapter in which Jerusalem is mentioned by name 7xx (Acts 25:1, 3, 7, 9, 15, 20, 24). One wonders whether Ἰερουσαλήμ was used in Acts 25:3 in part to relieve the monotony of so many repetitions of the name “Jerusalem.” ↩
• ^[27] According to Acts 11:28, Agabus was a prophet from Jerusalem. It is hard to imagine that such a man was not a speaker of Hebrew. ↩
• ^[28] Acts 22:2 explicitly states that Paul addressed his audience in τῇ Ἑβραΐδι διαλέκτῳ (tē Hebraidi dialektō, “in the Hebrew language”). On the meaning of this phrase, see Randall Buth and Chad Pierce, “Hebraisti in Ancient Texts: Does Ἑβραϊστί Ever Mean ‘Aramaic’?” in Randall Buth and R. Steven Notley, eds., The Language Environment of First-century Judaea: Jerusalem Studies in the Synoptic Gospels 2 (JCP 26; Leiden: Brill, 2014), 66-109. ↩
• ^[29] The author of Luke-Acts’ portrayal of Paul using the Hebraic form Ἰερουσαλήμ when addressing believers is true to life. Paul uses the Hebraic form in Rom. 15:19, 25, 26, 31; 1 Cor. 16:3; Gal. 4:25, 26. But Paul was also comfortable using the Hellenized form of Jerusalem’s name, since Ἱεροσόλυμα occurs in Gal 1:17, 18; 2:1. ↩
• ^[30] Cf. Bartlet, “The Twofold Use of ‘Jerusalem’ in the Lucan Writings,” 157; Harnack, The Acts of the Apostles, 78. ↩
• ^[31] See Sylva, “Ierousalēm and Hierosoluma in Luke-Acts,” 212. ↩
• ^[32] Cf. Bartlet, “The Twofold Use of ‘Jerusalem’ in the Lucan Writings,” 157; Elliott, “Jerusalem in Acts and the Gospels,” 462-463, 468. ↩
• ^[33] In both of these cases (Matt. 4:25; 20:18) Matthew agrees with Mark’s use of Ἱεροσόλυμα. ↩
• ^[34] Jeremias, “ΙΕΡΟΥΣΑΛΗΜ/ΙΕΡΟΣΟΛΥΜΑ,” 276 (translation mine). ↩
• ^[35] Ibid. ↩
• ^[36] Ibid. Cf. Joachim Jeremias, Die Sprache des Lukasevangeliums: Redaktion und Tradition im Nicht-Markusstof des dritten Evangeliums (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1980), 90. ↩
• ^[37] On Lindsey’s synoptic hypothesis, see inter alia the following JP articles: Robert L. Lindsey, Introduction to A Hebrew Translation of the Gospel of Mark; idem, “Unlocking the Synoptic Problem: Four Keys for Better Understanding Jesus.” ↩
• ^[38] See Flusser, “The Times of the Gentiles and the Redemption of Jerusalem,” under the subheading “Mark’s Sectarian Redaction.” ↩
• ^[39] See Rius-Camps, “The Spelling of Jerusalem in the Gospel of John: The Significance of Two Forms in Codex Bezae,” 84-94. ↩
• ^[40] In addition, the Gospel of Matthew twice refers to Jerusalem not by name but as ἡ ἁγία πόλις (hē hagia polis, “the holy city”; Matt. 4:5; 27:53). Matthew’s term corresponds to עִיר הַקֹּדֶשׁ (‘ir haqodesh, “the city of holiness”) in Hebrew, an appellation of Jerusalem already attested in the Hebrew Scriptures (Isa. 48:2; 52:1; Neh. 11:1, 18). The LXX translators rendered עִיר הַקֹּדֶשׁ as (ἡ) πόλις (ἡ) ἁγία ([hē] polis [hē] hagia, “[the] holy city”). Matthew’s word order, ἡ ἁγία πόλις, which differs from LXX, is un-Hebraic. Both instances of “holy city” in Matthew’s Gospel are probably the product of Matthean redaction. ↩
• ^[41] See Henry J. Cadbury, The Making of Luke-Acts (London: SPCK, 1927; repr. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1999), 227; James A. Montgomery, “Paronomasias on the Name Jerusalem,” Journal of Biblical Literature 49.3 (1939): 277-282, esp. 280; Joachim Jeremias, “ΙΕΡΟΥΣΑΛΗΜ/ΙΕΡΟΣΟΛΥΜΑ,” Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 65.3/4 (1974): 273-276, esp. 274 (for an English translation of Jeremias’ article on the WholeStones website, click here). Salem is the name of the city where, according to Gen. 14:18, Melchizedek reigned in the time of Abraham. ↩
• ^[42] Clearchus of Soli (ca. 300 B.C.E.), quoted by Josephus in Against Apion 1:179, commented on the foreignness of Jerusalem’s name, which he gave as Ἰερουσαλήμη (Ierousalēmē), a slight variation of the transliterated form Ἰερουσαλήμ (Ierousalēm). ↩
• ^[43] On יְרוּשָׁלֵם as the more ancient pronunciation, see George Adam Smith, “The Name Jerusalem and its History,” in his Jerusalem: The Topography, Economics, and History from Earliest Times to A.D. 70 (2 vols.; London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1907-1908), 1:250-265, esp. 252; Avi Hurvitz, A Concise Lexicon of Late Biblical Hebrew Linguistic Innovations in the Writings of the Second Temple Period (Leiden: Brill, 2014), 127-129. ↩
• ^[44] The spelling יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (with a yod before the final mem) occurs in Jer. 26:18; Esth. 2:6; 1 Chr. 3:5; 2 Chr. 25:1; 32:9. See Eduard Yechezkel Kutscher, A History of the Hebrew Language (ed. Raphael Kutscher; 2d ed.; Jerusalem: Magnes; Leiden: Brill, 1984), 81 §118, 94 §153; Hurvitz, A Concise Lexicon of Late Biblical Hebrew Linguistic Innovations in the Writings of the Second Temple Period, 128. ↩
• ^[45] In DSS the spelling ירושלים is common (cf., e.g., 1QM I, 3; III, 11; VII, 4; XII, 13, 17). ↩
• ^[46] For this reason both Hebrew spellings of “Jerusalem”—with and without the second yod—occur on coins from the first Jewish revolt against Rome in 66-73 C.E. See Hurvitz, A Concise Lexicon of Late Biblical Hebrew Linguistic Innovations in the Writings of the Second Temple Period, 128. ↩
• ^[47] However, the Hellenized form Ἱεροσόλυμα occurs a few times in 1 Maccabees, which was translated into Greek from Hebrew. Nevertheless, in 1 Maccabees the transliterated form dominates. On the other hand, the Hellenized form dominates in Greek Tobit although this book was composed either in Hebrew or Aramaic. Both Hebrew and Aramaic fragments of Tobit were discovered among DSS. ↩
• ^[48] See Edwin Hatch and Henry A. Redpath, A Concordance to the Septuagint and the Other Greek Versions of the Old Testament (Including the Apocryphal Books) (3 vols.; Oxford: Clarendon, 1897; repr., 2 vols.; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1983), 3:81. ↩
• ^[49] See Peder Borgen, Kåre Fuglseth and Roald Skarsten, The Philo Index: A Complete Greek Word Index to the Writings of Philo of Alexandria (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans; Leiden: Brill, 2000), 177. In Philo’s works the transliterated spelling Ἰερουσαλήμ occurs only once (Somn. 2:250), and in that context Philo took care to explain that Jerusalem is called Ἰερουσαλήμ “by the Hebrews” (ὑπὸ Ἑβραίων). ↩
• ^[50] See Karl Heinrich Rengstorff, ed., A Complete Concordance to Flavius Josephus: Unabridged Study Edition (2 vols.; Leiden: Brill, 2002), 2:2151-2152. ↩