And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king's entry without, turned he from the house of the LORD for the king of Assyria.
And the covert for the sabbath that they had built in the house [meeycak), Khethib; muwcak (H4329), Qeri'. Gesenius renders it, 'a covered walk, a portico.' The Septuagint has: ton themelion tees kathedras, the base, or foundation of the chair, The Syriac and Arabic versions call it, 'the house of the Sabbath']. Some think it was the bronze scaffold which Solomon erected in the temple, and on which he stood on the Sabbath or festival days (cf. 2 Chronicles 6:13); while others take it to have been a canopy drawn over the courts of the temple, to screen the worshippers. Whatever it was, and it is not easy to attach a definite meaning to the original word, it seems to have been formed of costly materials, and decorated with rich ornaments, from the anxiety of Ahaz to secrete it from the cupidity of the Assyrian monarch.
The king's entry without - a private external entrance for the king into the temple. The change made by Ahaz consisted in removing both of these into the temple, from fear of the king of Assyria, that, in case of a siege, he might secure the entrance of the temple from him.