1
When all the work Solomon had done for the temple of the LORD was finished,
he brought in the things his father David had dedicated - the silver na gold
and all the furnishings - and he placed them in the treasuries of God's temple.
The Ark Brought to the Temple
2
Then Solomon summoned to Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of
the tribes of and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of
the LORD's covenant from Zion, the City of David.
3
And all the men of Israel came together to the king
at the time of the festival in the seventh month.
4
When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites took up the ark,
5
and they brought up the ark and the Tent of Meeting and all the sacred furnishings
in it. The priests, who were Levites, carried them up;
6
and King Solomon and the ntire assembly of Israel that gathered abut hm were
before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be
recorded or counted.
7
The priests then brought the ark of the LORD's covenant to its place in
the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath
the wings of the cherubim.
8
The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark
and covered the ark and its carrying poles.
9
These poles were so long that their ends, extending from the ark, could be seen
from in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from the outside the Holy Place;
and they are still there today.
10
There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses had placed
in it at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites after
they came out of Egypt.
11
The priests then withdrew from the Holy Place. All the priests who were there
had consecrated themselves, regardless of their divisions.
12
All the Levites who were musicians - Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons
and relatives - stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and
playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests
and sounding trumpets.
13
The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise
and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments,
they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: "He is good; his love
endures forever." Then the temple of the LORD was filled with a cloud,
14
and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud,
for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God.
