SABBATH, COVERT FOR (מִיסַכְ הַשַּׁבָּ֜ת; is an architectural term of uncertain meaning; possibly covered structure, or barrier); RSV “the covered way for the sabbath” (2 Kings 16:18), also NASB; cf. NEB.

If the usual derivation from סָכַכְ֒, H6114, to overshadow, to cover, is correct, the phrase refers to a covered place or hall used either by the king or the priests to enter the Temple which King Ahaz removed in some sense “from the house of the Lord, because of the king of Assyria” (2 Kings 16:18; cf. 2 Chron 28:24).

In view, however, of a reference in Ezekiel 46:1f. to a gate in the Temple which was kept closed except on the Sabbath day and the day of the new moon, a barrier or grille may be indicated by myyasak hassabāt. The derivation could then be from שׂוּכְ, H8455, to hedge, to shut in (cf. Job 3:23; 38:8).