Le-‘elom. This is akin to le-‘olam (=forever).

Ma‘ravah le-Giḥon (=west of Gihon). [Ma‘ravah] is stressed on the final syllable: it is akin to ma‘arav, with the hei ending that marks a feminine noun. The same is true for mi-mizraḥ ha-shemesh u-mi-ma‘aravah (=in the east, where the sun rises, and in the west; Isa 45:6). Alternatively, it might be that in both cases, the hei is a feminine pronoun and should really have featured a mappiq. We have previously listed similar cases, in the Mikhlol (26b-27a). The meaning of ma‘ravah le-Giḥon, then, would be that the west side of the wall was toward Gihon, in the wadi. Likewise, [mi-mizraḥ ha-shemesh] u-mi-ma‘aravah would mean [from the place of the rising of the sun] to that of its setting—for shemesh (=sun) can be either masculine or feminine.

**And it encircled the ‘ofel—**a high place that was within the wall.

In the words of ḥozay. This is akin to ḥozim (=prophets). The same is true for va-ḥasufay shet (=with exposed buttocks; Isa 20:4), and for “and he builds ḥallonay (=windows) into it” (Jer 22:14).

And [Manasseh] was buried beto. This is the equivalent of be-beto (=in his bayit). The same is true for ha-nimṣa bet Adonay (=found in the House of the Lord; 2 Kgs 12:11). Beto means in the garden that he had in the bayit (=house), much as it says in Kings, “in the garden of his bayit” (2 Kgs 21:18). Bayit is an inclusive term for the houses and the garden.