gederah

The standard lexicons treat the feminine noun גְּדֵרָה as a single lexeme derived from the root גדר, to wall up, and as the feminine counterpart of the masculine גָּדֵר rather than a separate word. BDB, HALOT and DCH agree on the referent, a dry-laid stone enclosing wall, and divide the attestations between the wall itself (Ezekiel 42:12; figuratively Psalm 89:41 in Hebrew versification, English 89:40) and the predominant plural use for sheepfolds (Numbers 32:16, 24, 36; 1 Samuel 24:4 Hebrew, English 24:3; Zephaniah 2:6). The specialization toward the pen for flocks is the feminine noun's distinctive contribution: the masculine is never used of a sheepfold. Borowski's work on Iron Age terrace agriculture supplies the material background, the stone cleared from fields and terraces stacked into low unmortared boundary walls, which explains both the frequency of פרץ, to break through, with this noun and its suitability as a metaphor for defenses easily breached. Zimmerli reads the single feminine at Ezekiel 42:12 as the same enclosing wall of the outer court named with the masculine form at 42:7 and 42:10, against proposals to emend it. Roberts takes the phrase at Zephaniah 2:6 as the reduction of the Philistine coastal plain to pastoral use, with shepherds' installations replacing the cities. Jeremiah 49:3 is the one contested placement: BDB lists it under the sheepfolds heading with a query, while others read the plural of the walls or enclosures of Rabbah itself, and the modern versions divide accordingly; the surrounding verb is also textually uncertain, which keeps the question open.