The Ark Is Brought into the Temple

1So all the work that Solomon performed for the house of the LORD was finished. And Solomon brought in the [a]things that his father David had dedicated, the silver, the gold, and all the utensils, and he put them in the treasuries of the house of God.

2Then Solomon assembled at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the fathers’ households of the sons of Israel, to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD up from the city of David, which is Zion. 3All the men of Israel assembled themselves before the king at the feast, that is in the seventh month. 4Then all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites picked up the ark. 5They brought up the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the holy utensils that were in the tent. The Levitical priests brought them up. 6And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who had assembled with him before the ark were sacrificing [b]so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. 7Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim. 8For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim made a covering over the ark and its [c]poles. 9The poles were so long that the ends of the poles of the ark could be seen in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen outside; and [d]they are there to this day. 10There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets which Moses put there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.

The Glory of God Fills the Temple

11When the priests came out from the holy place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, without regard to divisions), 12and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and kinsmen, clothed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, standing east of the altar, and with them 120 priests blowing trumpets 13in unison when the trumpeters and the singers were to make themselves heard with one voice to praise and to glorify the LORD, and when they raised their voices accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and other musical instruments, and when they praised the LORD saying, “He indeed is good for His [e]kindness is everlasting,” then the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, 14so that the priests could not rise to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God.