MAKTESH, THE

mak'-tesh, (ha-makhtesh, "the mortar"; compare Judges 15:19, "the mortar," English Versions of the Bible "hollow place that is in Lehi"): A quarter of Jerusalem so named, it is supposed, on account of the configuration of the ground and associated (Zephaniah 1:10-11) with the "fish gate" and MISHNEH (which see) or "second quarter." Most authorities think it was in the northern part of the city, and many consider that the name was derived from the hollowed-out form of that part of the Tyropeon just N. of the walls, where foreign merchants congregated; others have suggested a hollow farther West, now occupied by the muristan and the three long bazaars.

E. W. G. Masterman

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.