The Ark Enters the Temple
(1 Kings 8:1–11)

1Then Solomon brought in all the things that David his father had vowed, the silver, and the gold, and all the vessels, which he placed in the treasuries of the house of God.

2After this, he gathered together those greater by birth of Israel, and all the leaders of the tribes, and the heads of the families, from the sons of Israel, to Jerusalem, so that they might bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the City of David, which is Zion. 3And so, all the men of Israel went to the king, on the solemn day of the seventh month. 4And when all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites carried the ark, 5and they brought it in, along with all the equipment of the tabernacle. Then too, the priests with the Levites carried the vessels of the sanctuary, which were in the tabernacle. 6Now king Solomon, and the entire assembly of Israel, and all who had gathered together before the ark, were immolating rams and oxen without any number, for so great was the multitude of the victims. 7And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, that is, to the oracle of the temple, in the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the cherubim, 8so that the cherubim extended their wings over the place where the ark was positioned, and they covered the ark itself and its bars. 9But concerning the bars by which the ark was carried, because they were a little longer, the ends were able to be seen before the oracle. Yet truly, if anyone were a little ways toward the exterior, he would not be able to see them. And so the ark has been in that place, even to the present day. 10And there was nothing else in the ark, except the two tablets, which Moses had placed there at Horeb when the Lord gave the law to the sons of Israel, at the departure from Egypt.

11And having gone out from the Sanctuary, the priests (for all the priests who were able to be found there were sanctified, and in that time the turns and orders of the ministries had not yet been divided among them) 12with both the Levites and the singing men, that is, those who were under Asaph, and those who were under Heman, and those who were under Jeduthun, with their sons and brothers, clothed in fine linen, sounded out with cymbals, and psalteries, and harps, standing toward the eastern side of the altar. And with them were one hundred twenty priests, sounding out with trumpets. 13And when they all sounded out together, with trumpets, and voice, and cymbals, and pipes, and with various kinds of musical instruments, lifting their voice on high, the sound was heard from far away, so that when they had begun to praise the Lord, and to say, “Confess to the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy is eternal,” the house of God was filled with a cloud. 14Neither were the priests able to stand and to minister, because of the cloud. For the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.