The Ark Enters the Temple
1 Thus all the work that Solomon did for the house of the Lord was finished. Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated: the silver, the gold, and all the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of the house of the Lord.
2 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the Israelite tribes, to Jerusalem, to bring up the Ark of the Lord’s covenant out of the City of David, which is Zion. 3 So all the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king at the feast, which was in the seventh month.
4 All the elders of Israel came. The Levites took up the Ark, 5 and they brought up the ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent. These, the Levitical priests brought up.
6 King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled to him, were before the Ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle that, in their multitude, could not be counted or numbered.
7 The priests brought in the Ark of the Lord’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim. 8 For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the Ark and the cherubim covered the Ark and its poles.
9 The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the ark in front of the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen outside, and it is there to this day.
10 There was nothing in the Ark except the two tablets which Moses put at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of Egypt.
God’s Glory Fills the Temple
11 The priests had come out of the holy place. All the priests who were present had sanctified themselves irrespective of their divisions. 12 The Levites also, who were the singers, all of them: Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and their brothers, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals and stringed instruments and harps, stood at the east end of the altar and with them 120 priests sounding with trumpets. 13 The trumpeters and singers played together to praise the Lord with one voice, to make one sound heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and they raised their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying,
“He is good.
His loving kindness endures forever!”
Then the temple (the house of the Lord) was filled with a cloud, 14 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.