Jerusalem holds a special place in the hearts and minds of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. It is mentioned times in the Old Testament and times in the New. Although today the city boasts a population of over , people, its origins were humble. Rasmussen gives a biblical history of the city of Jerusalem:.
Jerusalem was located in the Hill Country of Judah, far removed from the coastal and the Transjordanian highways. Jerusalem has a rugged and treacherous landscape that protected access to the city from the east and west.
Biblical Jerusalem was built on two parallel north—south ridges. The western ridge, the higher and broader one, is bounded on the west and south by the Hinnom Valley. The narrower and lower eastern ridge is bounded on the east by the Kidron Valley, which in the Jerusalem area flows basically north to south. Although excavated building remains are few, significant portions of a thick wall have been uncovered. This wall was apparently built about BC and continued in use, with rebuilds, until the end of the Judean monarchy BC.
The city remained 15 acres until it began to expand northward during the days of David and Solomon. Two events in the life of Abraham place him in close proximity to Jerusalem. Melchizedek, the king of Salem Gen ; cf. Ps , met Abram after his rescue of Lot.
Jerusalem next appears in the stories of the conquest under Joshua. He assembled a coalition of four other Amorite kings and attacked Gibeon but was defeated by Joshua. During the period of the judges Jerusalem came under the control of the Jebusites and was named Jebus see Judg —12; cf. It was the Judahite David who captured the city in his seventh year 2 Sam 5 and made it his capital. David brought the ark from Kiriath Jearim to Jerusalem, which he established as the major worship center for all Israel 2 Sam —23; 1 Chron — David built his own palace there 2 Sam and toward the end of his reign purchased the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, a site north of and higher than the ancient city core, where Solomon eventually built the temple 2 Sam —25; 1 Chron — The exact location of the temple is not known, although many researchers place it in the immediate vicinity of the existing Muslim shrine called the Dome of the Rock.
To the south of the temple, but north of the ancient core of Jerusalem, Solomon built his own palace and the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon 1 Kings — Thus the walled city expanded from 15 acres to about 37 acres.
Alexander the Great took control of Jerusalem in B. Over the next several hundred years, the city was conquered and ruled by different groups, including the Romans , Persians , Arabs, Fatimids, Seljuk Turks, Crusaders , Egyptians , Mamelukes and Islamists. Some key events with religious implications that took place in Jerusalem during this period include:. The British controlled the city and surrounding region until Israel became an independent state in Israel controlled the Western portions of it, while Jordan controlled East Jerusalem.
This ancient landmark is the holiest place in Judaism. The site is also the location of the first and second Temples and the spot where many Jewish prophets taught. Christians also believe the site is significant to their faith. Because it has religious and historical implications, occupation of the Temple Mount has been the cause of bitter conflict for centuries, especially between Jews and Muslims living nearby. But today, the Islamic Waqf governs what happens inside the compound, while Israeli forces control external security.
In A. During the Crusades , the Christians turned the landmark into a church. In , Muslims recaptured the Dome of the Rock and re-designated it as a shrine. Both structures are considered holy to Muslims. The Western Wall is a section of ancient remnant wall from the second Jewish Temple. Each year, millions of Jews from around the world visit the wall. Because Muslims control the Temple Mount the true site of the ancient Temples , the Western Wall is considered the holiest place where Jews can pray.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built in A. Thousands of Christian pilgrims from around the world travel to this church each year. Many regard it as the holiest Christian site in the world.
Jewish law forbids Jews from praying in the Temple Mount. Yet, Israeli forces allow hundreds of Jewish settlers to enter the area routinely, which some Palestinians fear could lead to an Israeli takeover. In recent years, some Israeli groups have even announced a plan to construct a third Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount.
This proposal has outraged Palestinians living in the region. In May , the Palestinian group Hamas presented a document that proposed the formation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. However, the group refused to recognize Israel as a state, and the Israeli government immediately rejected the idea. Today, tensions are still high in and around the city of Jerusalem. Confrontations between Israeli forces and Palestinians are commonplace. Many international groups and countries support efforts to divide Jerusalem into Israeli and Palestinian sections.
But, securing a plan that everyone agrees on is difficult. For security reasons, the compound was cleared of visitors and closed for Muslim Friday prayers for the first time in 17 years. Its first part can be carried out by translating into the language we use today, its second part by providing notes which are neither sectarian nor superficial.
This led to the production of separate fascicules with a full textual critical apparatus for the individual books of the Bible, and with extensive notes.
This present volume is its English equivalent, The introductions and notes are a direct translation from the French, though revised and brought up to date in some places—account being taken of the decisions and general implications of the Second Vatican Council.
The translation of the biblical text itself could clearly not be made from the French. In the case of a few books the initial draft was made from the French and was then compared word for word with the Hebrew or Aramaic by the General Editor and amended where necessary to ensure complete conformity with the ancient text.
For the much greater part, the initial drafts were made from the Hebrew or Greek and simultaneously compared with the French when questions of variant reading or interpretation arose. Whichever system was used, therefore, the same intended result was achieved, that is, an entirely faithful version of the ancient texts which, in doubtful points, preserves the text established and for the most part the interpretation adopted by the French scholars in the light of the most recent researches in the fields of history, archaeology and literary criticism.
The translator of the Bible into a vernacular may surely consider himself free to remove the purely linguistic archaisms of that vernacular, but here his freedom ends. He may not, for example, substitute his own modern images for the old ones: the theologian and the preacher may be encouraged to do this, but not the translator. Nor must he impose his own style on the originals: this would be to suppress the individuality of the several writers who responded, each in his own way, to the movement of the Spirit.
There is no doubt that in forfeiting this we lose something very precious, but one hopes that the gain outweighs the loss. The Psalms present a special problem for translators since, unlike other parts of the Bible, the psalter is not only a book to be read but a collection of verse which is sung or chanted. Moreover, many of them are so familiar in their sixteenth century form that any change may seem to be an impertinence.
Nevertheless, here too the first duty of a translator is to convey as clearly as he can what the original author wrote. He should not try to inject a rhetorical quality and an orotundity of cadence which belong more truly to the first Elizabethan age in England than to the Hebrew originals. It would certainly be dangerous to give the form of the translation precedence over the meaning. It is in the Psalms especially that the use of the divine name Yahweh accented on the second syllable may seem unacceptable—though indeed the still stranger form Yah is in constant use in the acclamation Hallelu-Yah Praise Yah!
On the other hand, this would be to lose much of the flavour and meaning of the originals. An Index of Biblical Themes has been provided in this edition. It is not a luxury or an afterthought; it is a key to a treasure, for the use of serious readers and of preachers. It is for those who are not studying one single book or passage but wish to find out what the Bible as a whole has to say on a particular theological idea. Since the date and provenance of the individual books will have been given in the introductions, this index will be a guide to the historical development of biblical revelation, a pointer to the raw material of a dynamic biblical theology.
The compilation of this index was undertaken as a labour of love by members of the Theological Studies Group of the Newman Association, under the leadership of Mr. Martin Redfern. Our sincere thanks must go to all these people who gave their spare time so generously. The format of this edition has been chosen to make intelligent reading easier, and the single column arrangement has for this reason been adopted.
The division of the text by bold-type section headings should enable the reader to see at a glance what is the subject-matter of the pages before him. The poetic passages are printed as verse and the lines with fewer stresses in the Hebrew are indented. Very occasionally there is a word-distribution that does not correspond to the lines in the Hebrew: this has been done deliberately, though reluctantly, for the sake of clearer English. A list of collaborators will be found in the introductory pages: to all of these we express our thanks, not least because they have been so patient with changes in their manuscript for which the General Editor must accept the ultimate responsibility.
As for the work of the publishers, it is here for all to see, but only the writer of this Foreword can fully appreciate their devotion to it. An inadequate word of thanks also to Miss Evan Burnley who typed and, without complaint, often retyped every word of this edition with the greatest accuracy. Certain students of Upholland College in Lancashire were of great help in the early days: may God reward them.
But there are many others whose prayers and sympathy and repeated kindness in difficult days have given constant support: we think they will recognize themselves in this poor and vague acknowledgment. The English version was prepared by a sizeable committee under the leadership of Alexander Jones, who saw to it that the actual wording of the translation was based upon a direct study of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures, rather than a mere translation of the French. The publisher is to be congratulated on a very fine production, attractive in appearance and format.
The footnotes are perhaps in smaller print than is customary, however, and since they contain so much important material, this may prove a disadvantage to some readers. The avowed purpose of these translators is to abandon all traditional Bible-English and to produce a completely new rendering on the basis of contemporary English vocabulary and usage. This pursuit of modernity has not gone to the extremes of the New English Bible, nor is it a mere Phillips paraphrase. Actually it often displays a real vitality which is refreshingly original, and lends a heightened impact to the thought of the ancient author.
A more basic consideration than modernity of rendering is the degree of faithfulness preserved in the handling of the Received Text. In its twentieth-century garb does the Jerusalem Bible offer to the public a reliable rendering of the original Hebrew Scriptures as they have been transmitted to the church?
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