the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Judgment Hall
Smith's Bible Dictionary
or Judgment Hall. The word praetorium is so translated five times in the Authorized Version of the New Testament, and in those five passages it denotes two different places.
1. In John 18:28; John 18:33; John 19:9, it is the residence which Pilate occupied when he visited Jerusalem. The site of Pilate's praetorium in Jerusalem has given rise to much dispute, some supposing it to be the palace of King Herod, others the tower of Antonia; but it was probably the latter, which was then and long afterward the citadel of Jerusalem.
2. In Acts 23:35, Herod's judgment hall or praetorium in Caesarea was doubtless a part of that magnificent range of buildings the erection of which by King Herod is described in Josephus. The word "palace," or "Caesar's court", in the Authorized Version of Philemon 1:13 is a translation of the same word praetorium. It may here have denoted the quarter of that detachment of the praetorian guards which was in immediate attendance upon the emperor, and had barracks in Mount Palatine at Rome.
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Smith, William, Dr. Entry for 'Judgment Hall'. Smith's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/sbd/j/judgment-hall.html. 1901.
