bor denotes a water-holding place, including Bethlehem’s source of drawn water and hewn structures that fail to retain it.

The attested use denotes a water-holding place: at Bethlehem it is the source from which water is requested and drawn, while Jeremiah describes hewn examples that are broken and retain no water.

1. Water-holding place for drawing or retaining water · dominant

   In 2 Samuel 23:15 and 2 Samuel 23:16, the singular construct form occurs in the clause about water at Bethlehem: the APB renders the request for water and the men’s drawing of it from the location by the gate. In Jeremiah 2:13, plural absolute forms occur in the contrast with the fountain of living waters; the APB renders hewn structures that are broken and “hold no water.”

   2 Samuel 23:152 Samuel 23:16Jeremiah 2:13

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across all cited verses, the APB presents the term as “cistern,” whether water is drawn from it at Bethlehem or whether broken examples fail to hold water. The verse is read as a whole.