1 Kings 8:1-21 ▼

1 And it came to pass when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and his own house after twenty years, then king Solomon assembled all the elders of Israel in Sion, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, this is Sion,

2 in the month of Athanin.

3 And the priests took up the ark,

4 and the tabernacle of testimony, and the holy furniture that was in the tabernacle of testimony.

5 And the king and all Israel were occupied before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, without number.

6 And the priests bring in the ark into its place, into the oracle of the house, even into the holy of holies, under the wings of the cherubs.

7 For the cherubs spread out their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubs covered the ark and its holy things above.

8 And the holy staves projected, and the ends of the holy staves appeared out of the holy places in front of the oracle, and were not seen without.

9 There was nothing in the ark except the two tables of stone, the tables of the covenant which Moses put there in Choreb, which tables the Lord made as a covenant with the children of Israel in their going forth from the land of Egypt.

10 And it came to pass when the priests departed out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house.

11 And the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, because the glory of the Lord filled the house.

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14 And the king turned his face, and the king blessed all Israel, (and the whole assembly of Israel stood:)

15 and he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel to-day, who spoke by his mouth concerning David my father, and has fulfilled it with his hands, saying,

16 From the day that I brought out my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any one tribe of Israel to build a house, so that my name should be there: but I chose Jerusalem that my name should be there, and I chose David to be over my people Israel.

17 And it was in the heart of my father to build a house to the name of the Lord God of Israel.

18 And the Lord said to David my father, Forasmuch as it came into thine heart to build a house to my name, thou didst well that it came upon thine heart.

19 Nevertheless thou shalt not build the house, but thy son that has proceeded out of thy bowels, he shall build the house to my name.

20 And the Lord has confirmed the word that he spoke, and I am risen up in the place of my father David, and I have sat down on the throne of Israel, as the Lord spoke, and I have built the house to the name of the Lord God of Israel.

21 And I have set there a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord, which the Lord made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.