The first mention of Zion in the Bible is 2 Samuel 5.6-9. It describes how Israel's King David captured the hilltop fortress known as Zion in the city of Jerusalem. At that time Jerusalem belonged to a group of people called the Jebusites and was thought to be unconquerable. David moved to Jerusalem and made it the capital of the united tribes of Israel. He had the sacred chest kept on Mount Zion, which also became known as the city of David (1 Kgs 8.1-2). 

The exact meaning of the word Zion is uncertain. It may be related to a Hebrew word that means “dry place,” or an Arabic word that means “hilltop” or “mountain ridge.” Zion has come to stand for a number of different things. The first meaning has to do with its original location. Archaeological evidence and biblical descriptions point to the ridge immediately southeast of the Temple Mount area. Zion also stands for the city of Jerusalem (Isa 51.3; 64.10,11; Jer 3.14-17; Zeph 3.14,15). The “people” of Zion are those who live in Jerusalem (Ps 149.2; Isa 1.27; Lam 4.2).

When David's son Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem, he moved the sacred chest from its original location on Mount Zion into the temple itself (1 Kgs 8.1-2). This may explain why Zion also became associated with the Jerusalem temple area. Israel's Lord is described as living on Mount Zion (Ps 74.1,2; Isa 8.18; Joel 3.17) and ruling there as Israel's “king” (Isa 24.23; Jer 8.19; Mic 4.6,7). Eventually, the Lord's dwelling place on Mount Zion was said to be in the most holy place in the temple, the central place of worship for God's people (Ps 78.68,69; Jer 31.6,12; Mic 4.1,2).

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul compares Zion to the people of Israel (Rom 9.30-33), using the prophet Isaiah's words about a stone set in Zion to refer to Jesus the Christ. The writer of 1 Peter uses these same words to compare Jesus to the living stone of Zion, and his followers to living stones that are being used to build a spiritual house, the church (1 Pet 2.4-6).

New Testament writers expanded the promise of God's new Zion found in the books of the prophets (Isa 59.20; 60.22; Zech 8.1-8). They describe the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb 12.22; Rev 14.1) as a place where God will live among God's faithful people forever (Rev 21.1-4).