A station-by-station handout to the 3D reconstruction: every location with its description, the scripture read there, paraphrased and cited by reference, the primary sources behind it, and a note wherever those sources disagree. Sources: the New Testament; Josephus, War and Antiquities; the Mishnah (Middot, Tamid, Yoma, Shekalim, Sukkah, Parah); the Babylonian Talmud.
Prepared by Taylor Halverson, Ph.D.
Beta — a work in progress. The reconstruction follows Middot for the inner plan, Josephus for elevations and outer works, and Leen Ritmeyer for the platform's building phases and sanctuary placement; dimensions, decoration and the lines of the city walls remain debated; see the notes marked “where the sources differ.” The ancient sources are not contemporary with each other: the New Testament and Josephus are first-century evidence, the Mishnah was compiled around AD 200 preserving earlier tradition, and the Babylonian Talmud is later still (mainly fifth–sixth century), so equal-looking citations are not equally close to the destroyed temple.
Prepared by Taylor Halverson, Ph.D., to accompany Herod’s Temple — Jerusalem, c. AD 30, an explorable three-dimensional reconstruction of the temple as it stood in the time of Christ. Forty-three annotated locations; one hundred sixty-two passages of scripture.
Every description is drawn from the New Testament, Josephus’ War and Antiquities, the Mishnah (Middot, Tamid, Yoma, Shekalim, Sukkah, Parah) and the Babylonian Talmud, with the disagreements among them noted rather than smoothed over.
© 2026 Taylor Halverson. All rights reserved. Beta — a work in progress. May be printed for personal study and classroom teaching with attribution retained.
Scripture passages are paraphrased in the author’s own words and cited by book, chapter and verse; no modern translation is quoted verbatim, so no translation licence is required. Josephus, the Mishnah and the Talmud are likewise cited by book and line and described in the author’s own words. Excavated measurements and the building phases of the platform follow Leen Ritmeyer, The Quest: Revealing the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (Carta, 2006), from Benjamin Mazar’s Temple Mount excavations of 1968–78. The Weekly Reading index is a generic reading-block guide and does not name any single publisher’s curriculum; this handout is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Rendered with three.js, © 2010–2025 three.js authors, under the MIT License. Set in EB Garamond and Cormorant Garamond (SIL Open Font License 1.1).