2 Chronicles 5:2-6:11

Living Bible

² Solomon now summoned to Jerusalem all of the leaders of Israel—the heads of the tribes and clans—for the ceremony of transferring the Ark from the Tabernacle in the^[a] City of David, also known as Zion, to its new home in the Temple. ³ This celebration took place in October at the annual Festival of Tabernacles. ^4-5 As the leaders of Israel watched, the Levites lifted the Ark and carried it out of the Tabernacle, along with all the other sacred vessels. ⁶ King Solomon and the others sacrificed sheep and oxen before the Ark in such numbers that no one tried to keep count!

^7-8 Then the priests carried the Ark into the inner room of the Temple—the Holy of Holies—and placed it beneath the wings of the Guardian Angels; their wings spread over the Ark and its carrying poles. ⁹ These carrying poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the outer room, but not from the outside doorway.

The Ark is still there at the time of this writing. ¹⁰ Nothing was in the Ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Mount Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel as they were leaving Egypt.

^11-12 When the priests had undergone the purification rites for themselves, they all took part in the ceremonies without regard to their normal duties. And how the Levites were praising the Lord as the priests came out of the Holy of Holies! The singers were Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and all their sons and brothers, dressed in finespun linen robes and standing at the east side of the altar. The choir was accompanied by 120 priests who were trumpeters, while others played the cymbals, lyres, and harps. ^13-14 The band and chorus united as one to praise and thank the Lord; their selections were interspersed with trumpet obbligatos, the clashing of cymbals, and the loud playing of other musical instruments—all praising and thanking the Lord. Their theme was “He is so good! His loving-kindness lasts forever!”

And at that moment the glory of the Lord, coming as a bright cloud, filled the Temple so that the priests could not continue their work.

6 ^1-2 This is the prayer prayed by Solomon on that occasion:

³ Then the king turned around to the people and they stood to receive his blessing:

⁴ “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,” he said to them, “the God who talked personally to my father David and has now fulfilled the promise he made to him. For he told him, ^5-6 ‘I have never before, since bringing my people from the land of Egypt, chosen a city anywhere in Israel as the location of my Temple where my name will be glorified; and never before have I chosen a king for my people Israel. But now I have chosen Jerusalem as that city, and David as that king.’

⁷ “My father David wanted to build this Temple, ⁸ but the Lord said not to. It was good to have the desire, the Lord told him, ⁹ but he was not the one to build it: his son was chosen for that task. ¹⁰ And now the Lord has done what he promised, for I have become king in my father’s place, and I have built the Temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel ¹¹ and placed the Ark there. And in the Ark is the Covenant between the Lord and his people Israel.”