2 Chronicles 5

Lexham English Bible

The Ark Installed in the Temple

5 When all the work that Solomon did for the house of Yahweh was finished, Solomon brought the holy objects of David his father: the silver, the gold, and all the objects he had put into the storehouses of the house of God. ² Then Solomon assembled all the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the families^[a] for the Israelites,^[b] to Jerusalem in order to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh from the city of David, which is Zion. ³ And all the men of Israel assembled before the king at the feast that is in the seventh month. ⁴ And all the elders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the ark. ⁵ And they brought up the ark, the tent of assembly,^[c] and all the holy objects that were in the tent; the Levitical priests brought them up. ⁶ And King Solomon and the whole community of Israel that was assembled before him were before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle that could not be counted nor numbered for abundance. ⁷ Then the priests brought up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, into the most holy place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁸ The cherubim were spreading their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim were covering the ark and over its poles from above. ⁹ But the poles were so long that the ends of the poles from the ark were seen from before the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from the outside. And they are there until this day. ¹⁰ There was nothing in the ark but the two stone tablets that Moses had put inside at Horeb on which Yahweh had made^[d] a covenant with the Israelites^[e] when they went out from Egypt. ¹¹ And when the priests came out of the sanctuary (for all the priests who were present^[f] sanctified themselves without keeping their divisions) ¹² and all the Levitical singers—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, their sons, their brothers, dressed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and stringed instruments—they were standing to the east of the altar. And with them outside were one hundred and twenty priests who were trumpet blowers. ¹³ And it was the primary duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard with one voice, to praise and give thanks to Yahweh. And when a sound from the trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments of song was raised to Yahweh—for he is good, because his loyal love is everlasting—then the house, the house of Yahweh, was filled with a cloud. ¹⁴ And the priests were not able to stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of Yahweh filled the house of God.