^5:2Then Solomon convened Israel’s elders—all the leaders of the Israelite tribes and families—in Jerusalem,¹ so they could witness the transferal of the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the City of David² (that is, Zion).³^5:3All the men of Israel assembled before the king during the festival⁴ in the seventh month.⁵^5:4When all Israel’s elders had arrived, the Levites lifted the ark. ^5:5The priests and Levites carried the ark, the tent where God appeared to his people,⁶ and all the holy items in the tent.⁷^5:6Now 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

^5:7The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its assigned⁹ place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, in the most holy place under the wings of the cherubs. ^5:8The cherubs’ wings extended over the place where the ark sat; the cherubs overshadowed the ark and its poles.¹⁰^5:9The poles were so long their ends extending out from the ark were visible from 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. ^5:10There was nothing in the ark except the two 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 For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
2 The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.
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 Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the City of David (it is Zion).”
4 This festival in the seventh month was the Feast of Tabernacles, see Lev 23:34.
5 The seventh month would be September–October in modern reckoning.
6 Heb “the tent of assembly.” 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 These poles were used to carry the ark. The Levites were to carry it with the poles on their shoulders. See Exod 25:13–15; 1 Chr 15:15.
11 Heb “they could not be seen outside.”
12 Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai (cf. Exod 3:1).
13 Heb “in Horeb where.”