1 Kings 8:1–21

Then all the ancients of Israel, with the princes of the tribes, and the heads of the families of the children of Israel, were assembled to king Solomon, in Jerusalem: that they might carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, out of the city of David, that is, out of Sion.

²And all Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon, on the festival day, in the month of Ethanim, the same is the seventh month.

³And all the ancients of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark,

⁴And carried the ark of the Lord, and the tabernacle of the covenant, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, that were in the tabernacle: and the priests and the Levites carried them.

⁵And king Solomon, and all the multitude of Israel, that were assembled unto him, went with him before the ark, and they sacrificed sheep and oxen, that could not be counted or numbered.

⁶And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord into its place, into the oracle of the temple, into the holy of holies, under the wings of the cherubims.

⁷For the cherubims spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and covered the ark, and the staves thereof above.

⁸And whereas the staves stood out, the ends of them were seen without, in the sanctuary before the oracle, but were not seen farther out, and there they have been unto this day.

⁹Now in the ark there was nothing else but the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁰And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the sanctuary, that a cloud filled the house of the Lord,

¹¹And the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.

¹²Then Solomon said: The Lord said that he would dwell in a cloud.

¹³Building, I have built a house for thy dwelling, to be thy most firm throne for ever.

¹⁴And the king turned his face, and blessed all the assembly of Israel: for all the assembly of Israel stood.

¹⁵And Solomon said: Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David, my father, and with his own hands hath accomplished it, saying:

¹⁶Since the day that I brought my people Israel, out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel, for a house to be built, that my name might be there: but I chose David to be over my people Israel.

¹⁷And David, my father, would have built a house to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel:

¹⁸And the Lord said to David, my father: Whereas, thou hast thought in thy heart to build a house to my name, thou hast done well in having this same thing in thy mind.

¹⁹Nevertheless, thou shalt not build me a house, but thy son, that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build a house to my name.

²⁰The Lord hath performed his word which he spoke. And I stand in the room of David, my father, and sit upon the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised: and have built a house to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

²¹And I have set there a place for the ark, wherein is the covenant of the Lord, which he made with our fathers, when they came out of the land of Egypt.