25 BIBLICAL AND HISTORICAL JERUSALEM be taken into account when discussing the biblical references to the City of David. Following the construction of the wall, David built a residence (literally ‘house’) for himself (2 Sam 5,11). The story of the bring- ing of the Ark to the city (2 Sam 6,16) assumes the construction of a royal residence in the City of David and the king’s wife Michal’s res- idence in the building. The story of David and Bathsheba (2 Sam 11) presumes that a royal residence was constructed in a prominent place in the city ― the same prominent place in which Absalom lay with his father’s concubines (2 Sam 16,22). Finally, the author of the ac- count of Pharaoh’s daughter’s temporary residence in the City of David (1 Kgs 3,1) takes it for granted that a royal residence was for- merly built in the city. All these authors visualized a palace that stood in the City of David and operated in the episodes they described. The “house” constructed by David is mentioned once again in the Book of Nehemiah. After completing the repair of the city’s walls, Nehemiah organized a thanksgiving procession to dedicate them. The procession was split into two parts, one marching along the southern and eastern sides of the city and the other on its west- ern and northern sides. The former passed the Dung Gate (Neh 12,31) and the Fountain Gate (v. 37aa): “And straight ahead of them they went up the steps of the City of David, on the ascent to the wall, past the House of David, and up to the Water Gate on the east” (v. 37). According to the description, the House of David was located south of the Water Gate, that is, the gate through which the people of Jerusalem went down to the Spring of Gihon before the quarry- ing of Hezekiah Tunnel, which transferred the water to the Siloam Fountain (see Neh 3,26; 8,1.3.16) 11. As the eastern wall constructed by Nehemiah passed through a new line near the eastern summit of the city 12, the House of David must be sought near the Stepped Stone Structure built on the summit of the city’s northeastern slope. 11 The descent from the City of David to the Spring of Gihon was recently unearthed; see R. REICH – E. SHUKRON, “A New Segment of the Middle Bronze Fortification in the City of David”, Tel Aviv 37 (2010) 141-153; idem, “The Mid- dle Bronze Age II Water System in Jerusalem”, Jérusalem antique et médiévale. Mélanges en l’honneur d’Ernest-Marie Laperrousaz (eds. C. ARNOULD-BÉHAR – A. LEMAIRE) (Paris – Louvain – Walpole, MA 2011) 17-29. 12 K.M. KENYON, Digging up Jerusalem (London 1974) 181-187; Y. SHILOH, Excavations at the City of David I, 1978-1982. Interim Report of the First Five