This Aramaic noun appears only in Ezra 4, in the letters opposing the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls. The context is deeply political: enemies write to the Persian king warning that if the walls are completed, the city will rebel and stop paying tribute. The multilingual glosses show some textual variation (ketiv/qere issues in Hebrew), but consistently recognize these as city walls. In the ancient Near East, walls weren't merely defensive structures—they symbolized autonomy, security, and political power. The opposition to rebuilding Jerusalem's walls reveals how threatening a fortified Jewish city appeared to surrounding peoples. Walls meant freedom; walls meant strength; walls meant a city could stand on its own terms.