נבואה
What the prophets promise
תורה
Torah
The Torah does not predict a Third Temple. It commands a sanctuary and names 'the place which the Lord shall choose'. Later sources build on these foundations.
The command
Torah text: Stated in the Five Books of Moses.The foundational verse for every Jewish sanctuary. Rambam derives the ongoing commandment to build a House from it.
And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
The chosen place
Torah text: Stated in the Five Books of Moses.Worship is to be centred on the place God chooses 'to put His name there'.
But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name there, even unto His habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come;
Return
Torah text: Stated in the Five Books of Moses.Rambam cites this passage as the Torah's own testimony to a future ingathering, which he connects with the Messianic king.
Reading: Rambam, Hilchot Melachim 11:1
that then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the peoples, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.
ישעיהו
Isaiah
Isaiah's vision is the site's ending: a mountain to which the nations come to learn, and a House of prayer for all peoples.
Nations streaming to the mountain
Future / prophetic: Describes what prophecy or tradition expects. Not a historical fact.In 'the end of days' the mountain of the Lord's house is raised up; nations come to be taught; instruction goes out from Zion; swords become ploughshares.
And it shall come to pass in the end of days, That the mountain of the LORD’S house Shall be established as the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow unto it. And many peoples shall go and say: ‘Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; And He …
Knowledge of God
Future / prophetic: Describes what prophecy or tradition expects. Not a historical fact.'They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain.' Rambam closes his law code with this verse.
Reading: Rambam, Hilchot Melachim 12:5
They shall not hurt nor destroy In all My holy mountain; For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea.
A house of prayer for all peoples
Future / prophetic: Describes what prophecy or tradition expects. Not a historical fact.Said of foreigners who join themselves to the Lord and keep the covenant: their offerings will be accepted on the altar.
Also the aliens, that join themselves to the LORD, to minister unto Him, And to love the name of the LORD, To be His servants, Every one that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, And holdeth fast by My covenant: Even them will I bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer; Their burnt-offerings and their …
Light
Future / prophetic: Describes what prophecy or tradition expects. Not a historical fact.Nations walk by Zion's light.
And nations shall walk at thy light, And kings at the brightness of thy rising.
ירמיהו
Jeremiah
The prophet of the destruction also foresees the sound of joy returning.
Not a talisman
Tanach prophecy: Stated in the Prophets or the Writings.Jeremiah warns against trusting in 'the temple of the Lord' while doing injustice. The House was never a guarantee.
Trust ye not in lying words, saying: ‘The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, are these.’
Thanksgiving returns
Future / prophetic: Describes what prophecy or tradition expects. Not a historical fact.In the desolate streets of Jerusalem there will again be the voice of joy and of 'them that bring offerings of thanksgiving into the house of the Lord'.
Thus saith the LORD: Yet again there shall be heard in this place, whereof ye say: It is waste, without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and …
יחזקאל
Ezekiel
The core of Third Temple prophecy. Ezekiel sees the Glory leave the First Temple (chapters 8 to 11) and, in exile, is shown a measured future House (chapters 40 to 48) into which the Glory returns.
The Glory departs
Tanach prophecy: Stated in the Prophets or the Writings.Before the destruction, the Glory leaves the threshold.
And the glory of the LORD went forth from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim.
A little sanctuary
Tanach prophecy: Stated in the Prophets or the Writings.In exile, God will be 'a little sanctuary'. The Talmud reads this as the synagogues and study halls.
therefore say: Thus saith the Lord GOD: Although I have removed them far off among the nations, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet have I been to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they are come;
My sanctuary among them for ever
Future / prophetic: Describes what prophecy or tradition expects. Not a historical fact.A covenant of peace, and the Sanctuary in their midst.
Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will establish them, and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in the midst of them for ever. My dwelling-place also shall be over them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
The vision begins
Future / prophetic: Describes what prophecy or tradition expects. Not a historical fact.'Upon a very high mountain'. A man of bronze with a measuring reed and a line leads the prophet through gates and courts.
In the visions of God brought He me into the land of Israel, and set me down upon a very high mountain, whereon was as it were the frame of a city on the south.
The Glory returns
Future / prophetic: Describes what prophecy or tradition expects. Not a historical fact.By the eastern gate, the Glory fills the House.
And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east. And a spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house.
The river
Future / prophetic: Describes what prophecy or tradition expects. Not a historical fact.Water flows from under the threshold, deepening until it cannot be crossed, and heals everything it reaches.
And he brought me back unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward, for the forefront of the house looked toward the east; and the waters came down from under, from the right side of the house, on the south of the altar.
The Lord is there
Future / prophetic: Describes what prophecy or tradition expects. Not a historical fact.The city's new name: 'The Lord is there'.
It shall be eighteen thousand reeds round about. And the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there.’
חגי
Haggai
Spoken to the builders of the Second Temple.
The latter glory
Classical interpretation: A traditional commentator's reading. Others may read the text differently.'The glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former.' Commentators differ on whether this refers to the Second Temple or to a future one.
The glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former, saith the LORD of hosts; and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.’
זכריה
Zechariah
A future Jerusalem to which the nations come.
The city of truth
Future / prophetic: Describes what prophecy or tradition expects. Not a historical fact.God returns to Zion; Jerusalem is called 'the city of truth'.
Thus saith the LORD: I return unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called The city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts The holy mountain.
Ten men of every language
Future / prophetic: Describes what prophecy or tradition expects. Not a historical fact.Peoples come to seek God in Jerusalem, taking hold of the garment of a Jew: 'We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'
Yea, many peoples and mighty nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favour of the LORD. Thus saith the LORD of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying: We will go …
Sukkot for the nations
Future / prophetic: Describes what prophecy or tradition expects. Not a historical fact.The survivors of the nations go up year by year to keep Sukkot. The chapter includes hard language about judgement, read on its own page in context.
And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
מלאכי
Malachi
The last of the prophets.
Offerings pleasant as of old
Future / prophetic: Describes what prophecy or tradition expects. Not a historical fact.The offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant 'as in the days of old'. The verse closes the prayer said after the Amidah in some rites.
Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years.
Elijah
Future / prophetic: Describes what prophecy or tradition expects. Not a historical fact.Elijah will be sent before 'the great and terrible day'.
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming Of the great and terrible day of the LORD.
רמב״ם
Rambam
Rambam codifies the Temple as law and describes the Messianic era with restraint.
A standing commandment
Halachah: Rambam: Codified as Jewish law by Maimonides (Rambam) in the Mishneh Torah.To build a House for the Lord, ready for offerings and pilgrimage.
It is a positive obligation to build a house for God where offerings may be brought and to make pilgrimage to it three times a year as it says "and they shall make Me a sanctuary." The tabernacle which Moses made in the desert has already been described in the Torah, but it was a temporary measure, as it says "for you have not yet reached, etc."
The Messianic king builds
Halachah: Rambam: Codified as Jewish law by Maimonides (Rambam) in the Mishneh Torah.He restores the Davidic kingdom, builds the Mikdash and gathers Israel's dispersed.
The King the Messiah (lit. the annointed) will stand up and return the Kingdom of the house of David to its old [glory], to the first rule, and build the Temple (lit. holy), and gather the scattered ones of the Israel, and return all of the laws in his days as they were before; bringing sacrifices, and making shmitahs (leaving the land …
The world as it is
Halachah: Rambam: Codified as Jewish law by Maimonides (Rambam) in the Mishneh Torah.Nothing in the natural order changes; Isaiah's wolf and lamb are a parable.
Don't think that in the days of the Messiah anything will be changed in the order of the world or that there will be some innovation in the works of creation. Rather, the world will behave according to its custom. And what is written in Isaiah, "And the wolf will live with the lamb and the tiger will lie down with the kid (Isaiah 11:6)" …
No one knows
Halachah: Rambam: Codified as Jewish law by Maimonides (Rambam) in the Mishneh Torah.The order of events is unknown until it happens; the sages had no tradition, only inference; do not calculate ends.
The sages said 'There is no difference between this world and the days of the Messiah, except for subjugation to [foregin] kings.' It seems from the simple meaning of the words of the prophets that in the beginning of the days of the Messiah, there will be a war between Gog and Magog, and that before the war between Gog and Magog, a …
The mystical layer (optional, advanced)
Open
An optional advanced layer. Kabbalistic literature, especially the Zohar, develops the Temple's meaning in ways that do not override the plain sense of Scripture or Jewish law. The site does not yet quote the Zohar: no passage has passed its verification standard. The themes below are introduced through verified texts.
Earthly and heavenly sanctuary
Classical interpretation: A traditional commentator's reading. Others may read the text differently.The Talmud speaks of an altar 'built in heaven' corresponding to the earthly one; the idea of correspondence is developed at length in later mystical literature.
Shechinah
Classical interpretation: A traditional commentator's reading. Others may read the text differently.The rabbinic term for God's manifest Presence becomes, in Kabbalah, a central concept with many layers. The site's Shechinah page stays with its plain meaning.
Exile and return
Classical interpretation: A traditional commentator's reading. Others may read the text differently.Ezekiel sees the Glory leave and return. Later mystics read exile as touching the Divine Presence itself.
The Foundation Stone
Classical interpretation: A traditional commentator's reading. Others may read the text differently.The Talmud records that the world was founded from the Even HaShetiyah. Mystical literature builds on this image of Jerusalem as the world's centre.