1 Kings 7:6

And he made a(R.V. the) porch of pillars This would seem to have been a separate building not connected with the house of the forest. In the same manner the porch for the throne in the next verse was unconnected with any other building. What was the purpose of the porch of pillars is not stated.

and the porchwas before them It is better to make this clause dependent on the first verb. Thus -he made the porch of pillars … and a porch before them," i.e. before the pillars.

andthe other pillars and the thick beamwere before them The word translated -thick beam" seems most likely to have been a threshold or step work by which the porch was entered. The twice repeated -before them" must refer to the same thing, viz. to the pillars of the first named porch, of which they formed the striking feature. So the sense of the verse would be -he made the porch of pillars and in front of them also another porch with its pillars and a staircase or set of steps to approach it by."