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

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

4 They 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.

5 And 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.

6 Then 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.

7 For 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.

8 But 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.

9 aThere 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.

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

11 so 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

12 aThen 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.”

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

15 He 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 1in 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.”