OPHEL ō’ fĕl (עֹ֫פֶל֒, H6754, swelling). A projecting area primarily of the original SE hill of Jerusalem (q.v., II, C), though Ophel may also designate a “tower” (KJV) or “hill” (ASV, RSV) at Samaria (2 Kings 5:24) or elsewhere.

While precise identification for the Ophel at Jerusalem remains uncertain, it appears to be that narrower part of the city’s E ridge that expands NE from David’s initial town on Mt. Zion toward the Temple on Mt. Moriah (IDB, II, 847, 852) or simply the hill of Mt. Zion itself (K. Kenyon, Jerusalem, 14, 15); cf. Josephus’ apparent placement of ὁ ̓Οφλᾶς (Ophlas, rendering the Aram. equivalent of עֹ֫פֶל֒, H6754) as adjoining the Temple area on the S (War, V. 4. 2; 6. 1).

Mesha of Moab spoke of the ophel, citadel, of Trans-Jordanian Kerak in his famous 9th-cent. inscr. (ANET, 320, 1. 22). The walls of Jerusalem’s Ophel were strengthened by Jotham (2 Chron 27:3) and Manasseh (33:14) in the 8th and 7th centuries respectively, but Isaiah predicted the subsequent destruction of this “hill” (Isa 32:14, ASV, RSV; “forts” KJV)

In Nehemiah’s day the Temple servants, or Nethinim, q.v., resided in Ophel and restored its walls (Neh 3:26; 11:21). Micah visualized the Messianic era as one in which God’s kingdom would be established on Ophel, the “hill” (“strong hold,” KJV), forever (Mic 4:8).