This verse is taken by some commentators as a later addition to the text that serves only to confuse matters. For this reason the whole verse is omitted by New Jerusalem Bible and Moffatt. But Cogan and Tadmor, along with many other interpreters, insist that this verse is authentic even though it does contain certain problems. The use of parentheses in Revised Standard Version is therefore misleading and should not be followed.

This verse is usually understood as further instructions to the two subdivisions of group A not mentioned in the previous verse, telling them where they are to stand guard on this particular day. But it will make more sense of verses 5-8 to understand this verse differently; that is, verse 6 is not giving instructions to two groups to stand guard at the places mentioned. Rather, the writer is simply speaking to these two groups and identifying them by referring to them as the guards who normally stand guard at these two places.

Another third is literally “the third,” but the context requires the use of the word another in English.

The gate Sur: In the parallel passage this gate is called “the Gate of the Foundation” (2 Chr 23.5). It is certainly possible that the reading here in 2 Kings is the result of a scribal error. The Hebrew consonants “r” and “d” were often confused by scribes because of their similar shapes. The Hebrew word for “Foundation” in 2 Chronicles is yesod and the word Sur is sur. On the assumption that the text here originally agreed with the one in 2 Chronicles, La Bible Pléiade reads “the Foundation Gate.”

But since there is no evidence in the manuscripts themselves to support this conclusion, translators should probably follow the Masoretic Text and say “the gate called Sur.” Some scholars believe that this is the same gate as “the New Gate” mentioned in Jer 26.10. Translators are advised to take the word Sur as a proper name. In some languages this will mean translating “the gate named Sur.” In any case, this gate was not one of the gates in the outer wall that surrounded Jerusalem but was rather a gate in an inner wall that surrounded the Temple and the royal palace.

At the gate behind the guards: It is difficult to know whether this refers to the same gate (Sur) just mentioned or, as seems more likely, to another gate. This gate is mentioned again in verse 19 where it is called “the gate of the guards” and seems to be located in the wall between the Temple and the royal palace. In this case it would not be the same as the Sur Gate.

Shall guard the palace: At the very end of this verse the Hebrew text contains an additional word (massah) that has long puzzled scholars and was omitted by the translators of the Septuagint. Possibly the word was a scribe’s comment, which is no longer understood. Some interpreters understand massah on the basis of the Arabic verb nasaha, which means “to replace.” The word massah would then mean “replacement” or “by turns.” La Bible Pléiade and Nouvelle Bible Segond translate this word as “alternately/in turn,” following a tradition among Jewish interpreters, and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “on every side.” Translators may choose to follow the interpretation found either in La Bible Pléiade and Nouvelle Bible Segond or in New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, or they may choose not to translate the Hebrew word and indicate this in a footnote, as Good News Translation has done.

It should be noted that the Hebrew word rendered the palace is literally “the house.” The Hebrew does not specify whether this is “the house of the king” or “the house of the LORD.” Most translations assume this refers to the palace. But it will make more sense in the context to understand this as a reference to the Temple (so Maredsous), as will be explained below.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .