What Is New Jerusalem?

The text known as “New Jerusalem” has been reconstructed from several fragmentary manuscripts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran. It describes a vision of a future Jerusalem and its Temple revealed to the speaker by an angelic being. The description begins with the outer walls of the city and moves inward toward the Temple, detailing both its physical features and the sacrifices offered there. As in Ezekiel’s vision of the future Temple, the description is meticulous and includes precise measurements. Since the Qumran sect had broken from the Jerusalem priesthood, accusing it of corrupting the Temple and its rites, New Jerusalem may have offered a vision of the future in which the Temple was pure and functioned in accordance with the views of the sect.