mal.ben denotes brick-related material or construction, seen in kiln labor, pavement, and fortification.

The attested use concerns brick-related construction material or work: people are assigned to brick kilns, stones are set in a brick pavement, and a fortified city is told to strengthen the brick.

1. Brick material and brickwork · dominant

   The singular absolute noun appears in building and labor contexts. In 2 Samuel 12:31 the APB renders the people as made to work “at the brick kilns”; in Jeremiah 43:9 it places stones in mortar at “the brick pavement”; and in Nahum 3:14 it commands, “strengthen the brick.”

   2 Samuel 12:31Jeremiah 43:9Nahum 3:14

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB presents the term within “brick kilns,” “brick pavement,” and “strengthen the brick.” These phrases show the construction context rather than fixing a separate English rendering in each verse.