This document provides a summary of the history of Jerusalem from 2000 BC to the present day. It discusses various rulers and empires that controlled Jerusalem, including the Israelites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Islamic caliphates, Crusaders, Ottomans, and British. Key events mentioned include the rebuilding of the temple by the Israelites after the Babylonian exile, its destruction by the Romans in 70 AD, and Jerusalem becoming the capital of Israel after the 1967 Six-Day War. The document also references several Bible passages about Jerusalem's future role during the Messiah's millennial reign and as the heavenly Jerusalem.

1. Zechariah 12:1-3
The 3rd in a Series of Studies on Biblical Prophecy

2. Psalm 137:5-6 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my
right hand forget its skill! 6 If I do not remember
you, let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth—
If I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.

3. Psalm 46:5 God is in the midst of her, she shall
not be moved; God shall help her, just at the
break of dawn.
Zechariah 1:14 So the angel who spoke with
me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says
the LORD of hosts: “I am zealous for Jerusalem
And for Zion with great zeal.
Psalm 129:5 Let all those who hate Zion Be
put to shame and turned back.

4. 1 The burden of the word of the LORD
against Israel. Thus says the LORD, who
stretches out the heavens, lays the
foundation of the earth, and forms the
spirit of man within him: 2 “Behold, I will
make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to
all the surrounding peoples, when they
lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem.

5. 3 And it shall happen in that day that I will
make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all
peoples; all who would heave it away will
surely be cut in pieces, though all nations
of the earth are gathered against it.

6. Psalm 122:6

7. “Jerusalem is a golden bowl full of scorpions.
They that put their hand in the bowl, die.”
(Attributed to an American Consul in the early 1900s)
a cup of
drunkenness
raʿal =
“trembling”

8. 2000 BC Melchizedek (Gen. 14:18)
Genesis 14:18 Then
Melchizedek king of Salem
brought out bread and wine;
he was the priest of God Most
High.

9. 1500 BC Jebus
Joshua 18:28 Zelah, Eleph,
Jebus (which is Jerusalem),
Gibeath, and Kirjath:
fourteen cities with their
villages. This was the
inheritance of the children of
Benjamin according to their
families.

10. 1500 BC Jebus
Judges 1:21 But the children
of Benjamin did not drive
out the Jebusites who
inhabited Jerusalem; so the
Jebusites dwell with the
children of Benjamin in
Jerusalem to this day.

11. 1010 BC David
2 Samuel 5:6-9 And the king and his
men went to Jerusalem against the
Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land,
who spoke to David, saying, “You shall
not come in here; but the blind and the
lame will repel you,” thinking, “David
cannot come in here.” 7 Nevertheless
David took the stronghold of Zion (that
is, the City of David).

12. 971 BC Solomon
1 Kings 10:27 The king made silver as common in
Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar trees as
abundant as the sycamores which are in the lowland.
1 Kings 8:27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth?
Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot
contain You. How much less this temple which I have
built! “

13. 931 BC Northen Kingdom of Israel – Jehoash
2 Kings 14:11-14 13 Then Jehoash
king of Israel captured Amaziah king
of Judah…at Beth Shemesh; and he
went to Jerusalem, and broke down
the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate
of Ephraim to the Corner Gate—four
hundred cubits. 14 And he took all the
gold and silver, all the articles that
were found in the house of the LORD
and in the treasuries of the king’s
house, and hostages, and returned to
Samaria.

14. 931 BC Northen Kingdom of Israel – Jehoash
2 Kings 14:11-14 13 Then Jehoash
king of Israel captured Amaziah king
of Judah…at Beth Shemesh; and he
went to Jerusalem, and broke down
the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate
of Ephraim to the Corner Gate—four
hundred cubits. 14 And he took all the
gold and silver, all the articles that
were found in the house of the LORD
and in the treasuries of the king’s
house, and hostages, and returned to
Samaria.

16. 700 BC Assyrian Empire – Sennacherib
2 Kings 19:32 “Therefore thus says the LORD
concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not come
into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come
before it with shield, nor build a siege mound
against it.”
God answered!

17. 700 BC Assyrian Empire – Sennacherib
2 Kings 19:35-36 And it came to pass on a certain
night that the angel of the LORD went out, and
killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred
and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose
early in the morning, there were the corpses—all
dead. 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed
and went away, returned home, and remained at
Nineveh.
God Worked & defended Jerusalem!

18. 700 BC Assyrian Empire – Sennacherib
2 Kings 19:37 Now it came to pass, as he was
worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, that
his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him
down with the sword; and they escaped into the
land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned
in his place.
God Worked & defended Jerusalem!

20. 605 BC Babylon Empire – Nebuchadnezzar
• Defeated Egypt at the battle of Carchemish in
605 BC
• Plundered Jerusalem (2 Kgs. 24:1; Dan. 1:1-6)
• Zedekiah, king of Judah, rebels in 588 BC
• Nebuchadnezzar retaliates burning the city,
destroying the walls & removing the people
(2 Kgs. 24:10-25:12)

22. 539 BC Persian Empire – Cyrus
• Cyrus the great issued an edict emancipating the
Jews – a year later >42,000 returned to Jerusalem to
rebuild the Temple (Ez. 2:64-65; 3:8)
• 2nd Temple completed in 516 BC in approximately 20
years – ending on the 70th year of the Babylonian
captivity

24. 330 BC Greek Empire – Alexander
• Described in Dan. 2:31-45; 7:6;
8:5-12
• Died seven years after defeating
the Persian Empire

26. 323 BC Egyptian Ptolemies
• The final dynasty of Egyptian
pharaohs
• Cleopatra ended the dynasty
by allying herself with the
Roman Marc Anthony,
committing suicide and turning
over the keys of the Egyptian
civilization to Augustus Caesar.

28. 198 BC Seleucid Empire (Syria) – Anticchus
• Antiochus III “the Great”
took Judea from Egypt
• Antiochus IV “Epiphanies”
Outlawed the Jewish faith
and desecrated the Temple
in 167 BC (Dan.11:21-45)

32. 63 BC Roman Empire – Pompey
• Captured Jerusalem and
made Judea part of the
Roman Empire
• Jerusalem would remain
under Roman rule more than
600 years (Dan.11:21-45)
• Herod the Great (37 BC)
• Titus in 70 A.D. destroyed
Jerusalem

33. 63 BC Roman Empire – Pompey
• Hadrian changed the
name of Jerusalem to
Aelia Capitolina and Judea
to Syria Palaestina
• Hadrian made Jerusalem a
pagan city

35. 687 AD Islamic Rule
• 687-91 the caliph Abd-
al-Malik built the Dome
of the rock. Muslims
believe that Adam and
Eve offered sacrifices to
God here.

37. 1187 AD The Crusades

39. 1244 AD Islamic Rule

40. 1517 AD Ottoman Empire (Turkey)

42. 1917 AD British Empire – Allenby
Isaiah 31:5 Like birds
flying about, So will the
LORD of hosts defend
Jerusalem. Defending, He
will also deliver it;
passing over, He will
preserve it.”

43. 1917 AD British Empire – Allenby

44. 1948 AD National Independence
Ezekiel 37:25
Then they shall dwell in the
land that I have given to
Jacob My servant, where
your fathers dwelt; and they
shall dwell there, they, their
children, and their children’s
children, forever; and My
servant David shall be their
prince forever.
Ben-Gurion

45. 1950 AD Jerusalem declared capital of Israel

46. 1967 AD 6-Day War

47. Messiah’s Millennial Reign
Isa. 11
Zech. 14:4
Rev. 20:4-6

48. Heavenly Jerusalem
Rev. 21:9-27

49. Psalm 122:6