39 BIBLICAL AND HISTORICAL JERUSALEM The quarter of Ophel is mentioned for the first time in post-ex- ilic texts, and the text of 1 Chr 11,8 assumes its presence 40. The term ‘Ophel’ is mentioned in the Mesha stele and in a north Israelite prophetic story (2 Kgs 5,24), and originally might have been a Moabite-Israelite isogloss meaning “bulge”, i.e., acropolis. In Ju- dahite texts it appears in the books of Nehemiah (3,26-27; 11,21) and 2 Chronicles (27,3; 33,14), as well as in late redactions of the books of Isaiah (32,14) and Micah (4,8). The reference to Ophel side by side with watchtower (Isa 32,14) and tower (Mic 4,8) indi- cates that it designated a building or quarter enclosed by a wall. According to the account of Nehemiah’s rebuilding project, the men of Tekoa repaired a section of the wall “from opposite the great projecting tower to the Ophel wall” (Neh 3,27). I have already sug- gested that the great projecting tower referred to in vv. 25-27 is the Stepped Stone Structure located in the northeastern side of the City of David. It is thus evident that the repaired section of the wall, whose course ran from south to north, reached the corner of the south to north Ophel wall. In other words, the eastern wall of the Ophel was built before the time of Nehemiah and required no re- pair. No wonder that the next repaired section (v. 28) is located near the Horse Gate, at the northern end of the Ophel and the southeast- ern side of the Temple Mount (see Jer 31,40a [MT 39a]) 41. The account of Nehemiah’s repair project indicates that the quar- ter of Ophel was located in between the Temple Mount in the north and the northern edge of the Stepped Stone Structure in the south. As indicated by Neh 3,28, it was fortified before Nehemiah’s re- building of the city wall, as is revealed also by the mention of the Valley Gate, the western gate of the quarter, in the description of Ne- hemiah’s night ride (Neh 2,11-15). Unintentionally, the memoir’s au- thor disclosed that the quarter that Nehemiah left was enclosed by a gate, hence fortified. It is evident that Nehemiah’s rebuilding project was a second stage in the city’s recovery after the Babylonian de- struction of 587/586 BCE. 40 For the biblical Ophel, see SIMONS, Jerusalem, 64-67; P. WELTEN, Ge- schichte und Geschichtsdarstellung in den Chronikbüchern (WMANT 42; Neukirchen-Vluyn 1973) 66-67, 75-77; W.H. MARE, “Ophel”, ABD VI, 26a. 41 D.C. LIID, “Horse Gate”, ABD III, 290a.