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)

The Ark Brought to the Temple^(A)

² Then Solomon summoned to Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark^(B) of the Lord’s covenant from Zion, the City of David. ³ And all the Israelites^(C) came together to the king at the time of the festival in the seventh month.

⁴ When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites took up the ark, ⁵ and they brought up the ark and the tent of meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The Levitical priests^(D) carried them up; ⁶ and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted.

⁷ The priests then brought the ark^(E) of the Lord’s covenant to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. ⁸ The cherubim^(F) spread their wings over the place of the ark and covered the ark and its carrying poles. ⁹ These poles were so long that their ends, extending from the ark, could be seen from in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today. ¹⁰ There was nothing in the ark except^(G) the two tablets^(H) that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.

²⁵ So David and the elders of Israel and the commanders of units of a thousand went to bring up the ark^(A) of the covenant of the Lord from the house of Obed-Edom, with rejoicing.

¹² Now King David^(A) was told, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. ¹³ When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed^(B) a bull and a fattened calf. ¹⁴ Wearing a linen ephod,^(C) David was dancing^(D) before the Lord with all his might, ¹⁵ while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts^(E) and the sound of trumpets.^(F)

¹⁶ As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David,^(G) Michal^(H) daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.

¹⁷ They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it,^(I) and David sacrificed burnt offerings^(J) and fellowship offerings before the Lord.

⁶ For in Scripture it says:

¹⁶ So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: