^8:1¹ Then Solomon convened in Jerusalem² Israel’s elders, all the leaders of the Israelite tribes and families, so they could witness the transferal of the ark of the Lord’s covenant from the city of David (that is, Zion).³^8:2All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon during the festival⁴ in the month Ethanim⁵ (the seventh month). ^8:3When all Israel’s elders had arrived, the priests lifted the ark. ^8:4The priests and Levites carried the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting,⁶ and all the holy items in the tent.⁷^8:5Now King Solomon and all the Israelites who had assembled with him went on ahead of the ark and sacrificed more sheep and cattle than could be counted or numbered.⁸

^8:6The priests brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its assigned⁹ place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, in the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubs. ^8:7The cherubs’ wings extended over the place where the ark sat; the cherubs overshadowed the ark and its poles.¹⁰^8:8The poles were so long their ends were visible from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from beyond that point.¹¹ They have remained there to this very day. ^8:9There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets Moses had placed there in Horeb.¹² It was there that¹³ the Lord made an agreement with the Israelites after he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

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Footnotes

1 The Old Greek translation includes the following words at the beginning of ch. 8: “It so happened that when Solomon finished building the Lord’s temple and his own house, after twenty years.”
2 For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
3 Heb “Then Solomon convened the elders of Israel, the heads of the tribes, the chiefs of the fathers belonging to the sons of Israel to King Solomon [in] Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the city of David (it is Zion).”
4 The festival. This was the Feast of Tabernacles, see Lev 23:34.
5 The month Ethanim. This would be September–October in modern reckoning.
6 Heb “the tent of assembly.” The tent of meeting. See Exod 33:7–11.
7 Heb “and they carried the ark of the Lord.… The priests and the Levites carried them.”
8 Heb “And King Solomon and all the assembly of Israel, those who had been gathered to him, [were] before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle which could not be counted or numbered because of the abundance.”
9 The word “assigned” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
10 And its poles. These poles were used to carry the ark. See Exod 25:13–15.
11 Heb “they could not be seen outside.”
12 Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai.
13 Heb “in Horeb where.”