1 Kings 8:1–21

The Ark Brought into the Temple

^1aThen Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all ^bthe heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ households of the sons of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, ^cto bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from ^dthe city of David, which is Zion.

²All the men of Israel assembled themselves to King Solomon at ^athe feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.

³Then all the elders of Israel came, and ^athe priests took up the ark.

⁴They brought up the ark of the Lord and ^athe tent of meeting and all the holy utensils, which were in the tent, and the priests and the Levites brought them up.

⁵And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled to him, ^awere with him before the ark, sacrificing ¹so many sheep and oxen they could not be counted or numbered.

⁶Then ^athe priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord ^bto its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, ^cunder the wings of the cherubim.

⁷For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim made a covering over the ark and its poles from above.

⁸But ^athe poles were so long that the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen outside; they are there to this day.

^9aThere was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, where ^bthe Lord made a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁰It happened that when the priests came from the holy place, ^athe cloud filled the house of the Lord,

¹¹so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

Solomon Addresses the People

^12aThen Solomon said,

“The Lord has said that ^bHe would dwell in the thick cloud.

¹³“^aI have surely built You a lofty house,

^bA place for Your dwelling forever.”

¹⁴Then the king ¹faced about and ^ablessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing.

¹⁵He said, “^aBlessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, ^bwho spoke with His mouth to my father David and has fulfilled it with His hand, saying,

¹⁶‘^aSince the day that I brought My people Israel from Egypt, I did not choose a city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house that ^bMy name might be there, but ^cI chose David to be over My people Israel.’

¹⁷“^aNow it was ¹in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

¹⁸“But the Lord said to my father David, ‘Because it was ¹in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart.

¹⁹‘^aNevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who ¹will be born to you, he will build the house for My name.’

²⁰“Now the Lord has fulfilled His word which He spoke; for ^aI have risen in place of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord ¹promised, and have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.

²¹“There I have set a place for the ark, ^ain which is the covenant of the Lord, which He made with our fathers when He brought them from the land of Egypt.”