Preparations for Building the Temple^(A)

5 ^[a]When Hiram^(B) king of Tyre heard that Solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father David, he sent his envoys to Solomon, because he had always been on friendly terms with David. ² Solomon sent back this message to Hiram:

The Ark Brought to the Temple^(A)

8 Then King Solomon summoned into his presence at Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs^(B) of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark^(C) of the Lord’s covenant from Zion, the City of David.^{(D) 2} All the Israelites came together to King Solomon at the time of the festival^(E) in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.^(F)

³ When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests^(G) took up the ark, ⁴ and they brought up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting^(H) and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests and Levites^(I) carried them up, ⁵ and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing^(J) so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.

⁶ The priests then brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant^(K) to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place,^(L) and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim.^{(M) 7} The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed^(N) the ark and its carrying poles. ⁸ These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today.^{(O) 9} There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets^(P) that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.

¹⁰ When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud^(Q) filled the temple of the Lord. ¹¹ And the priests could not perform their service^(R) because of the cloud, for the glory^(S) of the Lord filled his temple.

¹² Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud;^{(T) 13} I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell^(U) forever.”

¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”^(A)

²⁰ They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” ²¹ But the temple he had spoken of was his body.^(B)