Jebus

The pre-Israelite Canaanite name for Jerusalem. The Jebusites controlled the fortified hill town and held it long after Israel's conquest of Canaan, since Joshua never captured it (Joshua 15:63; Judges 1:21). The travelers in Judges 19 famously refused to spend the night in "Jebus, that is, Jerusalem" because it was a foreign city (Judges 19:10-12). David finally took the stronghold around 1000 BC, captured its water shaft, renamed the city after himself, and made it Israel's capital (2 Samuel 5:6-9; 1 Chronicles 11:4-7). After David's conquest the name Jebus fades from use and Jerusalem becomes the standard name.