The temple is finished, and the ark is brought into the most holy place. The priests leave, and the singers praise God, and a cloud fills the temple so that the priests cannot stand to minister.
1 Thus all the work that Solomon made for the house of the LORD was finished : and Solomon brought in all the things that David his father had dedicated ; and the silver , and the gold , and all the instruments , put he among the treasures of the house of God .
2 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel , and all the heads of the tribes , the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel , unto Jerusalem , to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David , which is Zion .
3 Wherefore all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto the king in the feast which was 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 , and the tabernacle of the congregation , and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle , these did the priests and the Levites bring up .
6 Also king Solomon , and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him before the ark , sacrificed sheep and oxen , which could not be told nor numbered for multitude .
7 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place , to the oracle of the house , into the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims :
8 For the cherubims spread forth their wings over the place of the ark , and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof above .
9 And they drew out the staves of the ark, that the ends of the staves were seen from the ark before the oracle ; but they were not seen without . And there it is unto this day .
10 There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put therein at Horeb , when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel , when they came out of Egypt .
11 And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place:(for all the priests that were present were sanctified , and did not then wait by course :
12 Also the Levites which were the singers , all of them of Asaph , of Heman , of Jeduthun , with their sons and their brethren , being arrayed in white linen , having cymbals and psalteries and harps , stood at the east end of the altar , and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets :)
13 It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one , to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD ; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick , and praised the LORD , saying, For he is good ; for his mercy endureth for ever : that then the house was filled with a cloud , even the house of the LORD ;
14 So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud : for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God .