1Once Solomon had finished all the work on the house of the Lord, he brought the holy items his father David had dedicated—the silver, the gold, and all the various worship items—and he placed them in the treasuries of God's Temple.

2Then Solomon summoned to Jerusalem the elders of Israel—all the heads of the tribes and family leaders of the Israelites—to bring the Ark of the Lord's Agreement from Zion, the City of David.

3So all the Israelites gathered to be with the king at the feast which is in the seventh month. ¹⁴

4When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites lifted up the Ark.

5The priests and Levites brought up the Ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy objects it contained.

6They sacrificed so many sheep and cattle that they couldn't be counted!

7Then the priests brought the Ark of the Lord's Agreement and placed it in the inner sanctuary of the Temple, the Most Holy Place, beneath the wings of the cherubim.

8The cherubim were spreading their wings over the place where the Ark was, so that the cherubim made a covering above the Ark and its poles.

9The poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the Most Holy Place, but not from outside. They are there to this day.

10Inside the Ark there was nothing except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Mount Sinai, ¹⁵where the Lord had made an agreement with the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt.

11Then the priests came out of the Holy Place. All the priests who were there had purified themselves, whatever their division.

12All the Levites who were singers—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar. They were dressed in fine linen, striking cymbals, playing harps and lyres, and accompanied by one hundred and twenty priests sounding trumpets.

13The trumpeters and singers joined together with one voice to praise and thank the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and musical instruments, the singers raised their voices, praising the Lord: “For he is good; his trustworthy love lasts forever.” Then the Temple, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud.

14The priests could not stand up to continue with the service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the Temple of God.