1 Kings 8:1-13 ▼

1 At that time Solomon (peace) assembled before him in Jerusalem (city of peace) the elders of Israel (he wrestles with God)—all the tribal heads and family leaders of the Israelites—to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD {YHWH} from Zion, the City of David (beloved).

2 And all the men of Israel (he wrestles with God) came together to King Solomon (peace) at the feast in the seventh month (the Feast of Tabernacles), the month of Ethanim (September and October).

3 When all the elders of Israel (he wrestles with God) had arrived, the priests took up the ark,

4 and they brought up the ark of the LORD {YHWH} and the Tent of Meeting with all its sacred furnishings. So the priests and Levites carried them up.

5 There, before the ark, King Solomon (peace) and the whole congregation of Israel (he wrestles with God) who had assembled with him sacrificed so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.

6 Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD {YHWH} to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place (the Holy of Holies), beneath the wings of the cherubim.

7 For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its poles.

8 The poles extended far enough that their ends were visible from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place \not from outside/; and they are there to this day.

9 There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses (drawn out) had placed in it at Horeb (Mount Sinai), where the LORD {YHWH} had made a covenant with the Israelites (God prevails) after they had come out of the land of Egypt (land of bondage).

10 And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD {YHWH}

11 so that the priests could not stand there to minister because of the cloud. For the glory of the LORD {YHWH} filled the house of the LORD.

12 Then Solomon (peace) declared: “The LORD [The Lord has set the sun in the heavens, but] has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud.

13 I have indeed built You an exalted house, a place for You to dwell forever.”