A palace, citadel, or fortress — a large impressive building or fortified structure. Used of the temple complex in Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 29:1, 19), of the Persian royal palace at Susa, and of the castle adjacent to the Jerusalem temple in Nehemiah.
David calls the temple 'the birah' — the great palace — not for the human king but for the LORD God (1 Chronicles 29:1). This architectural metaphor makes a theological statement: the temple was not a small shrine but the royal palace of the King of kings, to be built with the best materials available. In Nehemiah, the birah adjacent to the temple housed a Persian garrison — a reminder that God's city was under foreign occupation. The longing for restoration was in part a longing for the God whose palace lay in ruins.