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Bible Encyclopedias
Zion
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
or or Sion (Heb. ii=y perhaps from rims "to be dry," mis "to set up," or is "to protect"; Arabic analogies favour the meaning "hump," "summit of a ridge," and so "citadel"), the name of the Jebusite stronghold at Jerusalem captured by David (2(2 Sam. v.). Zion (which is synonymous with the Ophel) is properly the southern part of the eastern hill 1 on the top of which was built the temple, so that the name came to be given to the whole hill (2 Kings xix. 31, Isaiah xxiv. 23 and throughout I Maccabees), to all Jerusalem (Isaiah i. 27, cf. iv. 3), and even to the nation or its spiritual nucleus. Thus the people of Jerusalem are spoken of as "the daughter of Zion" (Isaiah i. 8), the name being often personified and idealized, especially in Isaiah ii., and in the Psalter, e.g. Ps. lxxxvii. 5,, "Every one calls Zion his mother." Sec G. A. Smith, Jerusalem (London, 1908).
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Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Zion'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/bri/z/zion.html. 1910.
