shep'-kot, shep'-kot, shep'-fold (gedherah, mikhlah, mishpethayim, naweh; aule): At night the sheep are driven into a sheepfold if they are in a district where there is danger from robbers or wild beasts. These folds are simple walled enclosures (Nu 32:16; Jg 5:16; 2Ch 32:28; Ps 78:70; Zep 2:6; Joh 10:1). On the top of the wall is heaped thorny brushwood as a further safeguard. Sometimes there is a covered hut in the corner for the shepherd. Where there is no danger the sheep huddle together in the open until daylight, while the shepherd watches over them (Ge 31:39; Lu 2:8). In the winter time caves are sought after (1Sa 24:3; Zep 2:6). The antiquity of the use of some of the caves for this purpose is indicated by the thick deposit of potassium nitrate formed from the decomposition of the sheep dung.
⇒See also the McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia.
James A. Patch