If you read Greek or the Latin Vulgate, you may have noticed various spellings of the word Jerusalem.

The spelling of Jerusalem with the y (Jerosolym) is found only in Greek texts of the Sacred Scriptures. The Hebrew texts preserve Jerusalem. In the Greek New Testament you’ll notice both – same with the Vulgate New Testament. Also, in some of the Deuterocanical books in the Septuagint and Vulgate, you’ll see Jerosolym.

Within the Deuterocanonical and New Testament Scriptures, both are used by the sacred authors. The y spelling (Jerosolym) derives from the Greek Hierosolym, which includes the Greek root for sacred cultic words. Hiereus is priest. Hieron is temple. The Greek writers made a Greek play-on-words to denote Jerusalem as a Hierosolym (a “temple” city). 

Here are the status for Jerusalem:

Here are Jerosolym variants:

My suspicion is that Jerosolym refers to a geographical location of the Old Testament temple, but that Jerusalem has spiritual significance. In Christian literature, Jerosolym is slightly polemical. Jerusalem, on the other hand, can refer to Heaven itself.

Saint Paul, in Galatians, refers to meeting Peter in geographical Jerosolym (Gal 1:17); however, in the same epistle he uses Jerusalem when referring to “that Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother.” (Gal 4:26)

Likewise, Saint John uses only Jerosolym in his Gospel (13 times), and he uses only Jerusalem in the Apocalypse (3 times). In his Apocalypse, Jerusalem always refers to the Holy City, which is Heaven.

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