Third Temple

This article is about the unrealized Jewish temple. For Herod the Great's massive renovation of the Second Temple, see Herod's Temple. For the 2015 book, see Yishai Sarid § Published works.

Not to be confused with Ezekiel's Temple.

The "Third Temple" (Hebrew: בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ הַשְּׁלִישִׁי, Bēṯ hamMīqdāš hašŠlīšī, transl. 'Third House of the Sanctum') refers to a hypothetical rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem. It would succeed the First Temple and the Second Temple, the former having been destroyed during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in c. 587 BCE and the latter having been destroyed during the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE. The notion of and desire for the Third Temple is sacred in Judaism, particularly in Orthodox Judaism. It would be the most sacred place of worship for Jews. The Hebrew Bible holds that Jewish prophets called for its construction prior to, or in tandem with, the Messianic Age. The building of the Third Temple also plays a major role in some interpretations of Christian eschatology.

Among some groups of devout Jews, anticipation of a future project to build the Third Temple at the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem has been espoused as an ideological motive in Israel. The building of the Third Temple has been contested by Muslims worldwide, as the esplanade—known in Islam as Haram al-Sharif—is the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, constituting the third-holiest site in Islam. Because any physical reconstruction would alter or compromise these centuries-old Islamic sanctuaries, advocacy for the Third Temple remains one of the primary religious and political flashpoints of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The project also faces unresolved internal halakhic disputes within Orthodox Judaism regarding divine intervention, as well as archaeological debate over the sanctuary's exact historical footprint. Most of the international community has refrained from recognizing any sovereignty over Jerusalem due to conflicting territorial claims between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority, as both sides have asserted it as their capital city.