| II Chronicles 17:12
| And Josaphat grew, and became exceedingly great: and he built in Juda houses like towers, and walled cities.
| Houses. Protestants, "castles." Hebrew biraniyoth. Birah is properly a Chaldean word, and is added after susan, to imply that it was a royal castle, (Calmet) or palace. (Haydock) (Esdras 1:1.) --- Septuagint often use baris in the same sense. (Calmet) --- It became a provincial word in Palestine, for a place shut up on all sides and built like a tower. (St. Jerome ad Princep.) --- David calls the temple a palace (habbirah) for God, 1 Paralipomenon 29:1. (Calmet) --- Josaphat employed his immense riches in beautifying the country, and erecting storehouses, ver. 5. --- Walled. Protestants, "cities of store." (Haydock) See 2 Paralipomenon 15:4.
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