And he set all the people as a guard for the king: In this context the verb set carries the idea of putting military personnel in place at a particular location for a specific purpose. In this case it was the area around the front of the Temple. In this context all the people refers to all the armed Levites. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “the entire force,” and God’s Word has “All the troops.” This whole clause may be rendered “Then he made sure that all the guards took their positions to protect the king” (similarly Contemporary English Version) or “Then he placed all the men at their posts to protect the king” (similarly NET Bible).
Every man with his weapon in his hand: See the comments at 2Chr 23.7.
From the south side of the house to the north side of the house, around the altar and the house is literally “from the right side of the house to the left side of the house to the altar and to the house.” The Temple faced east, and the guards formed a semicircle around the front of the Temple and the altar in front of the Temple. Bible en français courant says “He placed the men in a semicircle … from the southeast corner to the northeast corner of the temple, in front of the building and altar.” In some languages it will be more natural to translate the Hebrew more literally, speaking of “right” and “left,” while others may prefer to translate more generally by saying “all around the front of the Temple” (Good News Translation).
Some scholars think the words around the altar and the house, which are in the Masoretic Text, are not part of the original text, so they do not translate these words (so Revised English Bible). But Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives an {A} rating to the text containing these words, so they should be included in translation. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, the final report of the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project committee, does not deal with this matter since the Masoretic Text is the earliest attested reading. The intended meaning is expressed in the following translations: “near the altar and the temple” (New International Version) and “close to the altar and the Temple” (New Jerusalem Bible). The altar is the altar on which they burned animal and vegetable offerings (see the comments on 1 Chr 6.49).
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 .