1 Kings 8:1-21

1At that time Solomon assembled before him in Jerusalem the elders of Israel—all the tribal heads and family leaders of the Israelites—to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Zion, the City of David. 2And all the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the feast in the seventh month,1 the month of Ethanim.2

3When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark, 4and they brought up the ark of the LORD and the Tent of Meeting with all its sacred furnishings. So the priests and Levites carried them up.

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

6Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place,3 beneath the wings of the cherubim. 7For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its poles.

8The 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;4 and they are there to this day.

9There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb,5 where the LORD had made a covenant with the Israelites after they had come out of the land of Egypt.

10And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD 11so that the priests could not stand there to minister because of the cloud. For the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD.

12Then Solomon declared:

14And as the whole assembly of Israel stood there, the king turned around and blessed them all 15and said:

“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His own hand what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying, 16‘Since the day I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house so that My Name would be there. But I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’

17Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 18But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Since it was in your heart to build a house for My Name, you have done well to have this in your heart. 19Nevertheless, you are not the one to build it; but your son, your own offspring, will build the house for My Name.’

20Now the LORD has fulfilled the word that He spoke. I have succeeded my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the house for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 21And there I have provided a place for the ark, which contains the covenant of the LORD that He made with our fathers when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.”