The Ark Brought to the Temple^(A)

² Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes and the leaders of the houses of the fathers among the sons of Israel to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the City of David, which is Zion. ³ And all the men of Israel were assembled before the king at the feast, which is the seventh month.^[a]

⁴ All the elders of Israel came, and the Levites carried the ark. ⁵ Then they brought up the ark, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent. So the Levitical priests brought them up. ⁶ And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled with him before the ark, were sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.

⁷ The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place—to the inner sanctuary of the temple, into the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim. ⁸ Then the cherubim wings were spread out over the place of the ark so that the cherubim covered the ark and its poles. ⁹ The poles were extended so that the ends of the poles of the ark were seen in front of the Most Holy Place, but they were not seen outside; and they are still there to this day. ¹⁰ In the ark there was nothing except the two tablets that Moses had given at Mount Horeb where the Lord made a covenant with the sons of Israel when they went out from Egypt.

¹¹ When the priests came out from the Most Holy Place—for all the priests who were present had consecrated themselves, without keeping separate divisions— ¹² and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, with their sons and relatives, all clothed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood to the east of the altar, and with them one hundred and twenty priests who were sounding with trumpets, ¹³ it happened, when the trumpet players and singers made one sound to praise and give thanks to the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and all the instruments of music and praised the Lord saying,

that the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud. ¹⁴ And the priests were not able to stand in order to serve because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.

6 Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that He would dwell in the dark cloud. ² But I have built for You an exalted house, even a habitation where You can continually dwell.”

Solomon’s Speech

³ Then the king turned his face around, and he blessed the entire assembly of Israel while all the assembly of Israel was standing before him. ⁴ And he said:

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who spoke with David my father and fulfilled His promise saying, ⁵ ‘Since the day that I brought out My people from the land of Egypt, I did not choose any city from among the tribes of Israel to build a house for My name to dwell there, nor did I select a man to be the leader over My people Israel; ⁶ but I have chosen Jerusalem for My name to dwell there, and I have selected David to be over My people Israel.’

⁷ “And it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. ⁸ But the Lord said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well because of what was in your heart; ⁹ only you will not be the one to build the house. For your son, who will be born to you, he will build a house for My name.’

¹⁰ “The Lord has fulfilled the word that He spoke. For I have risen up in the place of David my father and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord spoke, and I will build the house for the name of the Lord God of Israel. ¹¹ And there I have set the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that He made with the children of Israel.”