PORTER in EV [Note: English Version.] has always the sense of ‘doorkeeper’ (see House, § 6 ) or ‘gatekeeper’ (see Fortification and Siegecraft, § 5 , end). In John 10:3 the porter is the man left in charge of a sheepfold by the shepherd or shepherds whose sheep are there housed for the night. In private houses the doorkeeper might be a woman ( 2 Samuel 4:6 as restored from LXX [Note: Septuagint.] , Acts 12:13 ). In OT, however, porters are most frequently named in the Books of Chron., Ezr„ and Neh. in connexion with the Temple ( 1 Chronicles 9:17 f. onwards), where they had charge of the various gates (see Temple, § 6 , Priests and Levites, § iii. 1, 2). The same word is rendered doorkeepers in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] 1 Chronicles 15:23 f., and in several other places in RV [Note: Revised Version.] ( 1 Chronicles 15:19 etc.). It is to be regretted that this term was not substituted throughout. In Psalms 84:10 the original is different, and should probably be rendered: ‘I had rather be [standing or lying] at the threshold in the house of my God.’
A. R. S. Kennedy.