Judea · City
Jerusalem
- Ancient name
- Jerusalem
- Modern location
- Old City of Jerusalem
- Region
- Judea
- Location
- Identified site
Editorial summary
The city at the heart of the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ final week. Paul went up to Jerusalem at the end of his third journey; Acts 18:22 is commonly read as a brief visit there at the end of his second.
What happened here
39Wise men arrive in Jerusalem
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem asking where the newborn King of the Jews was. Herod learned from the chief priests and scribes that the Christ was to be born in Bethlehem, and sent them there.
Entry into Jerusalem
Crowds spread their clothes and branches on the road and shouted “Hosanna” as Jesus rode into Jerusalem, and the whole city was stirred.
Jesus before Caiaphas
Jesus was led to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and elders had gathered, and Peter followed at a distance into the court. When Jesus answered the high priest’s demand to say whether he was the Christ, the high priest said he had spoken blasphemy, and they declared him worthy of death.
Matthew speaks of the court of the high priest (Matthew 26:58) but does not locate it.
The Last Supper
On the first day of Unleavened Bread, disciples prepared the Passover in a large upper room in the city. As they ate, Jesus took bread and the cup, gave thanks and gave them to his disciples.
The Gospels do not identify the house. A building on Mount Zion known as the Cenacle is traditionally associated with the upper room.
Jesus before Pilate
In the morning the chief priests and the council bound Jesus and handed him over to Pilate, who asked whether he was the King of the Jews. Stirred up by the chief priests, the crowd asked for Barabbas to be released instead. Pilate released Barabbas, had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified.
Mark does not say where Pilate heard the case; afterward the soldiers led Jesus into the court called the Praetorium (Mark 15:16).
Simon of Cyrene carries the cross
As Jesus was led out to be crucified, the soldiers compelled a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to go with them and carry his cross.
Mark says this happened as Jesus was led out to be crucified, before they brought him to Golgotha (Mark 15:20–22); the spot is not identified.
Peter denies Jesus
When Jesus was taken to the high priest’s house, Peter followed at a distance and sat by a fire in the courtyard. Three times people said he had been with Jesus, and three times he denied it. As a rooster crowed, the Lord turned and looked at Peter, and he went out and wept bitterly.
Luke speaks of the high priest’s house and its courtyard (Luke 22:54–55) but does not locate them.
Jesus before Herod
Learning that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, Pilate sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem. Herod questioned him at length, but Jesus gave no answers while the chief priests and scribes accused him. Herod and his soldiers mocked him and sent him back to Pilate, and that day Herod and Pilate became friends.
Jesus stands among the disciples
In Jerusalem, while Cleopas and his companion were telling the Eleven and those with them what had happened, Jesus stood among them. He showed them his hands and feet, ate broiled fish before them, opened their minds to the Scriptures, and told them to wait in the city until clothed with power from on high.
Luke says the two returned to Jerusalem and found the Eleven gathered together (Luke 24:33); the house is not identified.
Nicodemus comes by night
Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews, came to Jesus by night and called him a teacher come from God. Jesus told him that unless one is born anew he cannot see God’s Kingdom, and spoke of being born of water and Spirit.
John does not name the place; the preceding verses place Jesus in Jerusalem at the Passover (John 2:23).
Greeks ask to see Jesus
Some Greeks who had come up to worship at the feast told Philip, of Bethsaida, that they wanted to see Jesus. Philip and Andrew told Jesus, who answered that the time had come for the Son of Man to be glorified, and spoke of a grain of wheat that dies and bears much fruit.
John does not say where the Greeks approached Philip; they had come up to worship at the feast, after Jesus entered Jerusalem (John 12:12–20).
Jesus before Annas
Jesus was bound and taken first to Annas, father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. Let into the court, Peter told the maid at the door he was not one of Jesus’ disciples. The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and teaching, an officer struck him, and Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas.
John speaks of the court of the high priest (John 18:15) but does not locate it.
Thomas sees the risen Jesus
Thomas, absent when Jesus first came to the disciples, said he would not believe unless he saw and touched the marks of the nails and Jesus’ side. Eight days later, with the doors locked, Jesus came again and told Thomas to reach out his hand, and Thomas called him his Lord and his God.
John does not name the city or the house; the disciples were meeting behind locked doors (John 20:19, 26). Jerusalem, near which John places the cross and the tomb (John 19:20, 41–42), is the implied setting.
Praying in the upper room
After the ascension the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called Olivet and went up to the upper room where they were staying. They continued steadfastly in prayer along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
Acts says only that they went up to the upper room where they were staying; the house is not identified.
Matthias is chosen
Peter told about 120 disciples that one of the men who had accompanied them from John’s baptism until Jesus was taken up must replace Judas as a witness of the resurrection. They put forward Joseph called Barsabbas and Matthias, prayed and drew lots; the lot fell on Matthias, who was counted with the eleven apostles.
Acts does not say where the disciples were gathered; the preceding verses place the apostles in Jerusalem (Acts 1:12–13).
The Holy Spirit at Pentecost
At Pentecost a sound like a mighty wind filled the house, and tongues like fire rested on each of them. Filled with the Holy Spirit, they spoke in other languages, which devout Jews from every nation heard as their own. Peter, standing with the Eleven, addressed the crowd, and about three thousand were baptized.
Acts says they were together in one place, a house, without identifying it; the crowd was made up of people dwelling in Jerusalem (Acts 2:5).
Peter and John before the council
As Peter and John spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple and the Sadducees arrested them. The next day, before the rulers, elders and scribes, with Annas and Caiaphas present, Peter said the man had been healed in the name of Jesus. The council threatened them and let them go.
Peter and John were arrested while speaking to the people at the temple (Acts 3:11; 4:1–3) and examined the next day by the rulers gathered in Jerusalem; Acts does not say where they met.
Barnabas sells his field
Joses, a Levite of Cyprus whom the apostles called Barnabas, meaning Son of Encouragement, sold a field he owned and laid the money at the apostles’ feet.
Acts does not say where the field was; the money was laid at the apostles’ feet among the believers in Jerusalem.
Ananias and Sapphira
Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold land; with her knowledge he kept back part of the price and laid the rest at the apostles’ feet. Rebuked by Peter for lying to God, he fell down and died; about three hours later Sapphira repeated the claim and also died. Great fear came on the whole assembly.
Acts does not name the place; the community of believers it describes is in Jerusalem (compare Acts 5:16, 5:28).
The apostles freed and Gamaliel’s counsel
The high priest and the Sadducees jailed the apostles, but an angel opened the prison by night, and at daybreak they were teaching in the temple. Before the council Peter and the apostles said they must obey God rather than men. Gamaliel, a Pharisee, advised leaving them alone, and they were beaten and released.
The apostles were held in the public prison, taught in the temple and were questioned by the council; Acts does not say where the council met.
Seven men chosen to serve
When the Hellenists complained that their widows were neglected in the daily service, the Twelve asked the disciples to choose seven men full of the Spirit and of wisdom. They chose Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolaus and set them before the apostles, and after prayer hands were laid on them.
Stephen’s speech and death
Stephen, who did great wonders, was seized and brought before the council, where false witnesses accused him of speaking against the temple and the law. He answered with a long account of Israel’s history. Enraged, they threw him out of the city and stoned him as he prayed, and Saul consented to his death.
Stephen was tried before the council and stoned outside the city (Acts 7:58); Acts does not name the spot.
Persecution scatters the church
A great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria. Devout men buried Stephen, while Saul entered house after house and dragged men and women off to prison. Those who were scattered went about preaching the word.
The persecution was against the church in Jerusalem. Acts says only that the believers were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria.
Saul with the apostles in Jerusalem
When Saul came to Jerusalem the disciples were afraid of him, but Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told how he had seen the Lord on the way and preached boldly at Damascus. Saul was with them, preaching boldly and disputing with the Hellenists, who were seeking to kill him.
Peter explains himself in Jerusalem
When Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision objected that he had eaten with uncircumcised men. He told them about his vision at Joppa, the men sent from Caesarea and the Holy Spirit falling on those in the house. They fell silent and glorified God for granting the Gentiles repentance to life.
Peter freed from prison
King Herod killed James the brother of John and imprisoned Peter. On the night before Herod would bring him out, an angel led Peter out of the prison. He went to the house of Mary, mother of John Mark, where many were praying, and the servant girl Rhoda recognized his voice at the gate.
Acts 12:1–17 does not name the city. It is generally understood to be Jerusalem: afterward Herod went down from Judea to Caesarea (Acts 12:19).
Barnabas and Saul take John Mark
In the WEB text, Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their service, taking with them John who was called Mark.
The WEB reads “returned to Jerusalem”; other manuscripts, followed by many translations, have them return from Jerusalem. John Mark’s mother had a house where believers gathered (Acts 12:12), and the next chapter finds Barnabas and Saul at Antioch (Acts 13:1).
The council at Jerusalem
At Jerusalem some believing Pharisees said Gentile believers must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. After Peter, Barnabas and Paul spoke, James judged that Gentiles turning to God should not be troubled, only asked to abstain from a few things. Judas called Barsabbas and Silas were chosen to carry the letter to Antioch.
Greeting the church
From Caesarea Paul went up and greeted the church before going down to Antioch.
Acts 18:22 does not name the city. It is commonly understood to be Jerusalem; in the WEB, Paul has just spoken of keeping the coming feast in Jerusalem (Acts 18:21).
Arrival in Jerusalem
Disciples from Caesarea went up to Jerusalem with the travelers, bringing Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple with whom they were to stay. In Jerusalem the believers received them gladly.
Paul reports to James and the elders
The next day Paul reported to James and all the elders what God had done among the Gentiles. Because believers zealous for the law had heard that he taught Jews among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, they urged him to purify himself with four men under a vow, and he went into the temple with them.
Paul is seized in the temple
Near the end of the seven days, Jews from Asia saw Paul in the temple and stirred up the crowd, claiming he had brought Greeks into it, since they had seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city. The crowd dragged Paul out to kill him, but the commanding officer came with soldiers and arrested him.
Paul was seized in the temple and dragged out of it; the commanding officer arrested him outside and ordered him taken to the barracks (Acts 21:30–34). Trophimus is mentioned only as someone seen with Paul in the city.
Paul’s defense on the stairs
With the commanding officer’s permission, Paul spoke to the crowd in Hebrew, telling how he had persecuted the Way until Jesus spoke to him near Damascus. When he spoke of being sent to the Gentiles, the crowd called for his death. About to be scourged, he said he was a Roman, and the examiners withdrew.
Acts places the speech on the stairs as Paul was about to be brought into the barracks (Acts 21:35–40); it does not locate the barracks further.
Paul before the council
The commanding officer set Paul before the chief priests and the council, and the high priest Ananias ordered him struck on the mouth. When Paul cried out that he was a Pharisee on trial concerning the resurrection of the dead, Pharisees and Sadducees fell into dispute, and soldiers took him back to the barracks by force.
Acts does not say where in Jerusalem the council met.
The Lord stands by Paul
The following night the Lord stood by Paul and told him to take courage: as he had testified in Jerusalem, so he must testify also in Rome.
Acts does not say where Paul was that night; he had just been taken back into the barracks (Acts 23:10).
The plot and Paul’s nephew
More than forty men swore not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul and planned an ambush. Paul’s nephew heard of it and told Paul and then the commanding officer, who ordered a large guard to take Paul to Felix the governor by night and wrote Felix a letter about the case.
Festus visits Jerusalem
Three days after arriving in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem. The high priest and the principal men of the Jews asked him to summon Paul to Jerusalem, planning to kill him on the way, but Festus said Paul would be kept at Caesarea and told them to come down and accuse him there.
Fifteen days with Peter
Paul writes that three years later he went up to Jerusalem to visit Peter and stayed with him fifteen days, seeing none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. He adds that before God he is not lying.
Titus goes up to Jerusalem
After fourteen years Paul went up again to Jerusalem by revelation with Barnabas, taking Titus with him, and laid out the Good News he preached among the Gentiles, privately before those who were respected. Titus, a Greek, was not compelled to be circumcised.
People here
45On these journeys
- Philip the Evangelist in Acts 8stop 1
- Paul’s Second Missionary Journeystop 17
- Paul’s Third Missionary Journeystop 19
- Paul’s Arrest and Trialsstop 1
- The Birth and Childhood of Jesusstop 6
- The Final Week in Jerusalemstops 3 and 6
- Appearances of the Risen Jesusstops 5 and 6
- Women in the Gospels and Actsstops 13 and 15
- Jerusalem in Actsstops 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14
- Peter and the Early Churchstops 1, 3, 5, 10, 11, and 12
- Paul’s Conversion and Early Ministrystops 1, 4, 8, and 11
Scripture
Nearby in the atlas
Location certainty
Scholarly consensus identifies this site.
- Coordinates
- 31.7767° N, 35.2342° E