1. THEN SOLOMON assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chiefs of the fathers' houses of the Israelites, before the king in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Zion, the City of David.
2. All the men of Israel assembled themselves before King Solomon at the feast in the seventh month, Ethanim.
3. All the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.
4. And they brought up the ark of the Lord, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up.
5. King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who had assembled before him were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, so many that they could not be reported or counted.
6. And the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place in the Holy of Holies of the house, under the wings of the cherubim.
7. For the cherubim spread forth their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles.
8. The poles were so long that the ends of them were seen from the Holy Place before the Holy of Holies, but they were not seen outside; they are there to this day.
9. There was nothing in the ark except the two tables of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt. [Deut. 10:2-5.]
10. When the priests had come out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the Lord's house,
11. So the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house.
12. Then Solomon said, The Lord said that He would dwell in the thick darkness.
13. I have surely built You a house of habitation, a settled place for You to dwell in forever.
14. And the king turned his face about and blessed all the assembly of Israel, and all the assembly of Israel stood.
15. He said, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, Who spoke with His mouth to David my father and has with His hand fulfilled it, saying,
16. Since the day that I brought forth My people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house that My Name [and My Presence] might be in it, but I chose David to be over My people Israel.
17. Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the Name [the Presence] of the Lord, the God of Israel.