MANGER (φάτνη, G5764, feeding trough, box for fodder), used in contexts concerning domesticated animals from Homer on, esp. by writers such as Aelian. The KJV reads “manger” in Luke 2:7, 12, 16 but trs. “stall” in Luke 13:15. In the LXX the Gr. term is used to tr. a number of Heb. terms. The most common is Heb. אֻרְוָה, H774, “crib,” “stall” (Job 39:9; Prov 14:4; Isa 1:3) however three other terms are so tr. in the LXX. They are: Heb. אֵב֣וּס, cognate to a Sumer. loan word “roofed stall” (2 Chron 32:28); בְּלִיל, H1173, “a mix,” “a mash” derived from verbal form balālu, “to mix, mash” and by extension applied to the container in which the mash was made for feed (Job 6:5); the third term appears only in Habakkuk 3:17 which reads רֶ֫פֶת, H8348, which is usually emended but which must mean “stall” or “pen” from the context. The precise meaning of the various Sem. terms is therefore not easy to elucidate by usage. Three possibilities are known: (1) outdoor enclosures with lean-to roofing; (2) permanent shelters made of stone and mud-wall with a shelter; (3) cave stalls. It is most probable that it was this last type in which the nativity took place. In early Christian tradition, the place of our Lord’s birth was thought to be a cave and a number of possible sites were revered in and about Bethlehem. The present Church of the Nativity on a slight rise of hillside in Bethlehem covers one of these ancient grotto stalls. The traditional artistic representation in the churches of the Christian W are influenced to a great extent by the work of the Renaissance painters who naturally portrayed the scene of virgin and child in the heavy wo oden constructions of Europe. In the Near E, however, such stalls and mangers usually were cut from the natural stone of the caves or transported into the shelter. Many examples of such stone fodder troughs have been found. In the scenes from Dura Europos and other early decorated churches, it is such stone mangers which are shown. The essential character of the narrative of Jesus’ birth is borne out irrespective of the exact state of the manger; that is, that Jesus Christ was born in the humblest and lowliest of surroundings among the poor of the Jewish people.