Description and usage
This structure was a stall, part of a barn where animals were fed, or it was simply a customary place where animals were fed outside, often in a semi-circular enclosure. Since people normally possessed few cattle, the stalls were often near, or even inside, the house where the family lived.
Translation
In contrast to Sheep pen, sheepfold, this enclosure was permanent and built near the dwelling of the owner of the sheep.
In 1SA 28:24; JER 46:21; and AMO 6:4, the Hebrew phrase ‘egel marbeq is literally “calf of the stall,” indicating a calf that has been kept in a stall and fed until it is fat. While marbeq may usually be left untranslated, it is also possible to follow CEV ’s translation of the equivalent phrase in LUK 15:23, where it has “best calf” (compare GNT “prize calf”).