STALL (the tr. of several Heb. and Gr. words). 1. אֵבוּס, H17, (Prov 15:17), stalled; rather the place where cattle were kept to fatten them before marketing. Lean times are to be preferred in the home, for plenty makes hard the heart.

2. אֻֽרְיֹ֤ות, stall, a place for securing and feeding cattle or horses (1 Kings 4:26). In twostory homes cattle were usually housed in the ground level where there were stalls and mangers. The stables of Megiddo were arranged on either side of an aisle, each stall separated by posts and provided with a manger, paved with cobblestones. Tying holes occurred in the manger posts. The large no. of stalls indicates a large traffic in horse trading, no doubt a large part of the Solomonic revenue. Some 450 stalls were distributed in two separate buildings. Stables from approximately the same era appeared at Tell el-Hesi, Gezer, Taanach, and Hazor.

3. מַרְבֵּק, H5272, (Amos 6:4); “calves...of the stall” connotes the stalled calf fattened from fodder in the barn in contrast to the animal grazing in the field. The metaphor indicates God’s special care lavished on His people.

4. רְפָתִֽים, enclosure, particularly for sheep and goats (Hab 3:17). An empty sheepfold was often a sign of God’s judgment on a disobedient people.

5. Φάτνη, rather manger than stall, though it came to mean the latter also (cf. Luke 13:15). It is used to tr. 2 (2 Chron 32:28), 4 (Hab 3:17) and 1 (Job 39:9) above.

Bibliography W. F. Albright, Archaeology of Palestine (1963).