Zion
Gender Masculine
Scripts צִיוֹן (Hebrew)
From the name of a citadel that was in the center of Jerusalem. Zion (also variously transliterated Sion, Tzion, Tsion, Tsiyyon) is also used to refer to a Jewish homeland and to heaven.
Used almost as a synonym for Jerusalem, particularly the part called the city of David, the original southeastern part of the city (2 Sam 5:7). In the Old Testament it is used especially in the Psalms and the prophets, being a poetic term representing the prophetic hope of a new kingdom of David (Judg 9:13; Ps 9:11-14; 87:1-5; 102:13-21; 137: 1-3; Isa 4:3-5; 33:5-6; 52:1-8; Lam 2; Bar 4:9,14,24; Jo 3:16-21; Mi 4:7-13; Zech 8:2-3); in the books of Maccabees it refers to the mountain on which Jerusalem was built (1Macc 4:37,60; 5:54; 6:48,62; 7:33; 10:11; 14:26). Nearly all of the references in the New Testament (Mt 21:5; Jn 12:15; Rom 9:33; 11:26; Heb 12:22; 1P 2:6; Rev 14:1) are quotes from the Old Testament.
At one time Mount Hermon is also called Zion (Deut 4:48), but the word in the original language is different; it is the name given by other nations (Deut 3:9).
The etymology of the word Zion (ṣiyôn) is uncertain. Mentioned in the Old Testament in the Books of Samuel (2Samuel 5:7) as the name of a Jebusite fortress conquered by David, its origin seems to predate the Israelites. If Semitic, it could derive from the Hebrew root ṣiyyôn (“castle”) or the Hebrew צִיָּה ṣiyya (“dry land” or “desert,” Jeremiah 51:43). A non-Semitic relationship to the Hurrian word šeya (“river” or “stream”) has also been suggested as also one of Hittite origin.
The form ציון (Tzion, Tiberian vocalization: Ṣiyyôn) appears 108 times in the Hebrew Bible, and once with an article, as HaTzion.