Herod enlarges Jerusalem’s temple
Between the Testaments · Draft · BSB
Content revision: 033a834a16c217c4 · No editorial review date recorded
Date: c. 20–19 BC onward · Temple rebuilding
Herod undertakes a major rebuilding and expansion of Jerusalem’s temple. Josephus describes preparations, construction and the king’s desire for a lasting monument.
This belongs to the Second Temple’s history, not Solomon’s temple or the original return-era rebuilding. The starting date does not mean the whole complex was finished at once. John later refers to the long building process.
Historical sources and canon context
Historical background. The sources below open externally; they are separate from the app’s bundled Bible text. Related Bible passages provide comparison or later context.
Account of the rebuilding begun in Herod’s eighteenth regnal year. Written in the first century AD, looking back on these events.
Primary Scripture
No primary biblical passage is assigned to this historical-background event. Consult its external sources.
Related Scripture
These Bible readings are connected by theme or later setting; they are not direct accounts of this historical stop.
The later exchange mentions forty-six years of building; John distinguishes Jesus’s meaning from his hearers’ response.
Location evidence
Jerusalem marks the temple setting. The map does not reconstruct the platform’s stages or claim that every visible stone belongs to this starting date.
Event map marker: Identified site; [longitude, latitude] = [35.234167, 31.776667]. This is a teaching marker, not an exact event venue.
Jerusalem: Identified site. Coordinates [longitude, latitude]: [35.234167, 31.776667]. Classification source: editorial.
OpenBible.info: Jerusalem (CC BY 4.0)
OpenBible.info: Jerusalem (CC BY 4.0)
For the class
How can the same building serve worship, public identity and a ruler’s reputation?
Interpretation and reuse
Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.
Record source: editorial (content/authored/between-testaments.json)
Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0.
Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm