CASTLE . 1 . In Genesis 25:16 , Numbers 31:10 , 1 Chronicles 6:54 , an obsolete, if not erroneous, rendering in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] of a word denoting a nomad ‘encampment’ (so RV [Note: Revised Version.] ).

2 . In 1 Chronicles 11:5; 1 Chronicles 11:7 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] speaks of the ‘castle’ of Zion, the citadel or acropolis of the Jebusite city, but RV [Note: Revised Version.] renders as in 2 Samuel 5:7; 2 Samuel 5:9 ‘ stronghold .’ A different word ( birah ) is used of the castle or fort which in Nehemiah’s day defended the Temple ( Nehemiah 2:8; Nehemiah 7:2 ), and of the fortified royal residence of the Persian kings at Susa ( Nehemiah 1:1 , Esther 1:2 etc.; RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘palace,’ marg. ‘castle’). The fortress in Jerusalem to which the authors of the books of Maccabees and Josephus give the name of Acra, is termed ‘the castle’ in 2Ma 4:27; 2Ma 5:5; 2Ma 10:20 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , where RV [Note: Revised Version.] has throughout ‘citadel’ (so also 1Ma 1:33 and elsewhere). See, further. City, Fortification and Siegecraft, § 4.

A. R. S. Kennedy.