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2 Chronicles 5
New English Translation

5 1 When Solomon had finished constructing the Lord’s temple, he put the holy items that belonged to his father David (the silver, gold, and all the other articles) in the treasuries of God’s temple.

Solomon Moves the Ark into the Temple

2 Then Solomon convened Israel’s elders—all the leaders of the Israelite tribes and families—in Jerusalem, so they could witness the transferal of the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the City of David[a] (that is, Zion).[b] 3 All the men of Israel assembled before the king during the festival[c] in the seventh month.[d] 4 When all Israel’s elders had arrived, the Levites lifted the ark. 5 The priests and Levites carried the ark, the tent where God appeared to his people,[e] and all the holy items in the tent.[f] 6 Now King Solomon and all the Israelites who had assembled with him went on ahead of the ark and sacrificed more sheep and cattle than could be counted or numbered.[g]

7 The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its assigned[h] place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, in the Most Holy Place under the wings of the cherubim. 8 The cherubim’s wings extended over the place where the ark sat; the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles.[i] 9 The poles were so long their ends extending out from the ark were visible from in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from beyond that point.[j] They have remained there to this very day. 10 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets Moses had placed there in Horeb.[k] (It was there that[l] the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after he brought them out of the land of Egypt.)

11 The priests left the Holy Place.[m] All the priests who participated had consecrated themselves, no matter which division they represented.[n] 12 All the Levites who were musicians, including Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and relatives, wore linen. They played cymbals and stringed instruments as they stood east of the altar. They were accompanied by 120 priests who blew trumpets. 13 The trumpeters and musicians played together, praising and giving thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments, they loudly praised the Lord, singing:[o] “Certainly he is good; certainly his loyal love endures!” Then a cloud filled the Lord’s temple.[p] 14 The priests could not carry out their duties[q] because of the cloud; the Lord’s splendor filled God’s temple.

Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 5:2 sn The phrase the City of David refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.
  2. 2 Chronicles 5:2 tn Heb “Then Solomon convened the elders of Israel, the heads of the tribes, the chiefs of the fathers belonging to the sons of Israel to Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the City of David (it is Zion).”
  3. 2 Chronicles 5:3 sn This festival in the seventh month was the Feast of Tabernacles, see Lev 23:34.
  4. 2 Chronicles 5:3 sn The seventh month would be September-October in modern reckoning.
  5. 2 Chronicles 5:5 tn Heb “the tent of assembly.”sn See Exod 33:7-11.
  6. 2 Chronicles 5:5 tn Heb “and they carried the ark of the Lord…. The priests and the Levites carried them.”
  7. 2 Chronicles 5:6 tn Heb “And King Solomon and all the assembly of Israel, those who had been gathered to him, [were] before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle which could not be counted or numbered because of the abundance.”
  8. 2 Chronicles 5:7 tn The word “assigned” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
  9. 2 Chronicles 5:8 sn These poles were used to carry the ark. The Levites were to carry it with the poles on their shoulders. See Exod 25:13-15; 1 Chr 15:15.
  10. 2 Chronicles 5:9 tn Heb “they could not be seen outside.”
  11. 2 Chronicles 5:10 sn Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai (cf. Exod 3:1).
  12. 2 Chronicles 5:10 tn Heb “in Horeb where.”
  13. 2 Chronicles 5:11 tn Heb “and when the priests went from the holy place.” The syntactical relationship of this temporal clause to the following context is unclear. Perhaps the thought is completed in v. 14 after a lengthy digression.
  14. 2 Chronicles 5:11 tn Heb “Indeed [or “for”] all the priests who were found consecrated themselves without guarding divisions.”
  15. 2 Chronicles 5:13 tn Heb “like one were the trumpeters and the musicians, causing one voice to be heard, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, and while raising a voice with trumpets and with cymbals and with instruments of music, and while praising the Lord.”
  16. 2 Chronicles 5:13 tn Heb “and the house was filled with a cloud, the house of the Lord.”
  17. 2 Chronicles 5:14 tn Heb “were not able to stand to serve.”
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2 Chronicles 5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Chapter 5

Dedication of the Temple. 1 (A)When all the work undertaken by Solomon for the house of the Lord was completed, he brought in the votive offerings of David his father, putting the silver, the gold, and other articles in the treasuries of the house of God. 2 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the princes in the ancestral houses of the Israelites, to Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord’s covenant from the City of David, which is Zion. 3 All the people of Israel assembled before the king during the festival of the seventh month.[a] 4 (B)When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites[b] took up the ark; 5 and they brought up the ark and the tent of meeting with all the sacred vessels that were in the tent. The levitical priests brought them up.

6 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. 7 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. 8 The cherubim had their wings spread out over the place of the ark, covering the ark and its poles from above. 9 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.)[c] 10 There was nothing in the ark but the two tablets which Moses had put there at Horeb when the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they went forth from Egypt.

11 When the priests left the holy place (all the priests who were present had purified themselves regardless of the rotation of their various divisions), 12 the Levites who were singers, all who belonged to Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and brothers, clothed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests blowing trumpets.

13 When the trumpeters and singers were heard as a single voice praising and giving thanks to the Lord, and when they raised the sound of the trumpets, cymbals, and other musical instruments to “Praise the Lord, who is so good, whose love endures forever,” the cloud filled the house of the Lord.(C) 14 The priests could no longer minister because of the cloud, since the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.(D)

Footnotes

  1. 5:3 Festival of the seventh month: feast of Booths (Tabernacles); cf. notes on 7:9–10; 1 Kgs 8:2.
  2. 5:4 The Levites: the parallel passage in 1 Kgs 8:3 reads “the priests”; but in 2 Chr 5:5 the Deuteronomic expression “levitical priests” is used, as it is in 23:18; 30:27.
  3. 5:9 They remain there to this day: the Chronicler must have copied this notice from his source (1 Kgs 8:8), losing sight of the fact that there was no ark in the Temple of his own day. (According to 2 Mc 2:4–8, the ark of Solomon’s Temple was concealed by Jeremiah at the time of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem.)
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Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.