1 Kings 8:1–11

The Covenant Box Is Brought to the Temple

8^*Then King Solomon summoned all the leaders of the tribes and clans of Israel to come to him in Jerusalem in order to take the Lord’s Covenant Box from Zion, David’s City, to the Temple. ^2*They all assembled during the Festival of Shelters in the seventh month, in the month of Ethanim. ³When all the leaders had gathered, the priests lifted the Covenant Box ⁴and carried it to the Temple. The Levites and the priests also moved the Tent of the Lord’s presence and all its equipment to the Temple. ⁵King Solomon and all the people of Israel assembled in front of the Covenant Box and sacrificed a large number of sheep and cattle—too many to count. ⁶Then the priests carried the Covenant Box into the Temple and put it in the Most Holy Place, beneath the winged creatures. ⁷Their outstretched wings covered the box and the poles it was carried by. ⁸The ends of the poles could be seen by anyone standing directly in front of the Most Holy Place, but from nowhere else. (The poles are still there today.) ^9*There was nothing inside the Covenant Box except the two stone tablets which Moses had placed there at Mount Sinai, when the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel as they were coming from Egypt.

^10*As the priests were leaving the Temple, it was suddenly filled with a cloud ^11*shining with the dazzling light of the Lord’s presence, and they could not go back in to perform their duties.