5. King Solomon and the entire community of Israel, gathered for the occasion before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen too many to number or count.
6. The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, the inner sanctuary of the house, the holy of holies, beneath the wings of the cherubim.
7. The cherubim had their wings spread out over the place of the ark, sheltering the ark and its poles from above.
8. The poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary. They cannot be seen from outside, but they remain there to this day.
9. There was nothing in the ark but the two stone tablets which Moses had put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they went forth from the land of Egypt.
10. When the priests left the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord
11. so that the priests could no longer minister because of the cloud, since the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.
12. Then Solomon said,“The Lord intends to dwell in the dark cloud;
13. I have indeed built you a princely house,the base for your enthronement forever.”
14. The king turned and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while the whole assembly of Israel stood.
15. He said: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his own mouth spoke a promise to David my father and by his hand fulfilled it, saying:
16. Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city out of any tribe of Israel for the building of a house, that my name might be there; but I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.
17. When David my father wished to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel,
18. the Lord said to him: In wishing to build a house for my name, you did well.
19. But it is not you who will build the house, but your son, who comes from your loins; he shall build the house for my name.
20. Now the Lord has fulfilled the word he spoke: I have succeeded David my father, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord has spoken, and I have built this house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
21. I have provided there a place for the ark in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”
22. Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel, and stretching forth his hands toward heaven,
23. he said, “Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below; you keep covenant and love toward your servants who walk before you with their whole heart,