For the four chief gatekeepers is literally “for they were in trust [or, permanently on duty] the four chief gatekeepers,” which is understood to mean that there were four chief gatekeepers, one for each of the gates, and that they were primarily responsible for what happened at their gate (so Good News Translation, New International Version) or that they were always on duty (so New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). It is not clear how these words should be connected to the preceding verse or whether they should be connected with the rest of verse 26, as in Good News Translation, which begins a new sentence with this verse.

Some interpreters understand the Hebrew expression beʾemunah (“in trust”) to mean “permanently on duty” (see the comments on verse 22), and they connect verse 26a with the preceding verse. New Jerusalem Bible (similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Osty-Trinquet), for example, renders verses 25-26 as follows:

25 and their brothers in their villages were required to assist them from time to time for a week, 26 since the four head gatekeepers were permanently on duty.
They were Levites and were in charge of the accommodation and supplies of the Temple of God.

If this interpretation is followed, then the sense of verses 25-26a is that although some Levites came to Jerusalem a week at a time for guard duty, the four chief guards lived permanently in Jerusalem. Then the remainder of verse 26 refers to the duties of all the guards and not just the four chief guards.

On the other hand, many modern versions begin a new sentence at the beginning of verse 26 and have no paragraph break at this point. According to this way of understanding the Hebrew text, all of this verse refers only to the four chief guards, who were “were dependable” (New Century Version), “were in an office of great trust” (New Living Translation), or “had the final responsibility” (Good News Translation). A model translation of verse 26 for this understanding is Revised English Bible:

The four principal door-keepers were chosen for their trustworthiness; they were Levites and had charge of the rooms and the stores in the house of God.

Were in charge of the chambers and the treasures of the house of God: Were in charge of is literally “were over” (compare verses 19 and 23). The chambers refers to “the rooms” (New International Version, Holman Christian Standard Bible, Revised English Bible) in the Temple. The Hebrew word translated treasures does not necessarily refer to things of great value as the English translation might suggest. Rather, it is used most often to refer to “stores” (Revised English Bible) or “supplies” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Jerusalem Bible). The same Hebrew word occurs in 1 Chr 26.20.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .