2 Kings 11:4

11:4 In the seventh year Jehoiada summoned ¹  the officers of the units of hundreds of the Carians ²  and the royal bodyguard. ³  He met with them ⁴  in the Lord’s temple. He made an agreement ⁵  with them and made them swear an oath of allegiance in the Lord’s temple. Then he showed them the king’s son.

2 Kings 11:6

11:6 Another third of you will be stationed at the Foundation ⁶  Gate. Still another third of you will be stationed at the gate behind the royal guard. ⁷  You will take turns guarding the palace. ⁸ 

2 Kings 11:11

11:11 The royal bodyguard ⁹  took their stations, each holding his weapon in his hand. They lined up from the south side of the temple to the north side and stood near the altar and the temple, surrounding the king. ¹⁰ 

2 Kings 11:13

11:13 When Athaliah heard the royal guard ¹¹  shout, she joined the crowd ¹²  at the Lord’s temple.

2 Kings 11:19

11:19 He took the officers of the units of hundreds, the Carians, the royal bodyguard, and all the people of land, and together they led the king down from the Lord’s temple. They entered the royal palace through the Gate of the Royal Bodyguard, ¹³  and the king ¹⁴  sat down on the royal throne.

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¹ tn Heb “Jehoiada sent and took.”

² sn The Carians were apparently a bodyguard, probably comprised of foreigners. See HALOT 497 s.v. כָּרִי and M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 126.

³ tn Heb “the runners.”

⁴ tn Heb “he brought them to himself.”

⁵ tn Or “covenant.”

⁶ tn Heb “the gate of Sur” (followed by many English versions) but no such gate is mentioned elsewhere in the OT. The parallel account in 2 Chr 23:5 has “Foundation Gate.” סוּר (sur), “Sur,” may be a corruption of יְסוֹד (yÿsod) “foundation,” involving in part dalet-resh confusion.

⁷ tn Heb “the runners.”

⁸ tn The meaning of מַסָּח (massakh) is not certain. The translation above, rather than understanding it as a genitive modifying “house,” takes it as an adverb describing how the groups will guard the palace. See HALOT 605 s.v. מַסָּח for the proposed meaning “alternating” (i.e., “in turns”).

⁹ tn Heb “the runners” (also in v. 19).

¹⁰ tn Heb “and the runners stood, each with his weapons in his hand, from the south shoulder of the house to the north shoulder of the house, at the altar and at the house, near the king all around.”

¹¹ tc The MT reads, “and Athaliah heard the sound of the runners, the people.” The term הָעָם (ha’am), “the people,” is probably a scribal addition anticipating the reference to the people later in the verse and in v. 14.

¹² tn Heb “she came to the people.”

¹³ tn Heb “the Gate of the Runners of the House of the King.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.