Fold

Fold (Hebrew naveh or gederah) denotes an enclosure where sheep or goats are gathered for rest and protection at night, typically a stone-walled pen or a natural cave or depression used for the same purpose. Sheepfolds are mentioned throughout the Old Testament in pastoral contexts: the Transjordanian tribes built sheepfolds for their flocks when settling east of the Jordan (Numbers 32:16, 24, 36), and David was called from following the ewes to tend Israel (2 Samuel 7:8; Psalm 78:70-71).

Jesus's extended sheep-and-shepherd discourse in John 10 uses the fold (aule, courtyard) as a primary image: the true shepherd enters by the door, while the thief and robber climbs in another way. "And there are other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd" (John 10:16) — a statement that eschatological unity of Jew and Gentile in Christ's flock transcends the present boundaries of any single sheepfold. Isaiah 13:20 uses the abandoned fold as a picture of utter desolation.