2 Chronicles 5

1 Thus was perfected, all the work, which Solomon made, for the house of Yahweh, —and Solomon brought in the hallowed things of David his father, the silver, and the gold, and all the utensils, placed he, in the treasuries of the house of God.

After Solomon’s workers had finished building the temple, Solomon put in the temple storage rooms everything that his father David had dedicated to Yahweh—all the silver and gold and all the other things that were used at the temple.

2 Then, Solomon called together the elders of Israel, and all the chiefs of the tribes, the ancestral leaders of the sons of Israel, unto Jerusalem, —to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh out of the city of David, the same, is Zion.

Then King Solomon summoned to Jerusalem all the elders of Israel, all the leaders of the tribes and of the families/clans. He wanted them to help to bring to the temple Yahweh’s Sacred Chest from Zion [Hill], where it was in [the part of the city called] ‘The City of David’.

3 And all the men of Israel came together unto the king, in the festival, —the same, was the seventh month.

So all the leaders of Israel gathered together along with the king, during the Festival of [Living in Temporary] Shelters, in October.

4 And all the elders of Israel came in, —and the Levites bare the ark;

When they had all arrived, the descendants of Levi lifted up the Sacred Chest,

5 and they brought up the ark, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy utensils, that were in the tent, —the priests the Levites did bring them up.

and they carried it and the Sacred Tent and the sacred things that were inside it. The priests, who were also descended from Levi, carried them.

6 And, King Solomon, and all the assembly of Israel who assembled themselves unto him, before the ark, were sacrificing sheep and oxen, which could not be told nor could they be counted, for multitude.

King Solomon and many of the other people of Israel who had gathered there walked in front of the Sacred Chest. And they sacrificed a huge amount of sheep and cattle. No one was able to count them [because there were very many].

7 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Yahweh into the place thereof, into the shrine of the house, into the holy of holies, —into [the place] beneath the wings of the cherubim; —

The priests then brought the Sacred Chest into the Most Holy Place, the inner room of the temple, and they placed it under the wings of the statues of winged creatures.

8 for the cherubim were spreading forth two wings, over the place of the ark, —so that the cherubim formed a covering over the ark and over the staves thereof, from above.

The wings of those statues spread out over the Sacred Chest and over the poles by which it was carried.

9 And they drew out the staves, and the heads of the staves could be seen out of the ark, in front of the shrine, although they could not be seen on the outside, —and it came to pass that they have remained there—unto this day.

The poles were very long, with the result that they could be seen by [those who were standing] at the entrance to the Most Holy Place, but they could not be seen by anyone standing outside the temple. Those poles are still there.

10 There was, nothing in the ark, save only the two tables, which Moses placed [therein] in Horeb, —when Yahweh made a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came forth out of Egypt.

The only things that were inside the Sacred Chest were the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Sinai Mountain, where Yahweh made an agreement with the Israeli people after they came out of Egypt.

11 And it came to pass, when the priests, came forth, out of the holy place, —for, all the priests who were present, had hallowed themselves, they had no need to observe the courses;

Then the priests left the Holy Place. All the priests who were there, from every group, had performed the rituals to cause them to be acceptable to God.

12 and, the Levites who were the singers, even all of them pertaining to Asaph, to Heman, to Jeduthun, and to their sons and to their brethren, arrayed in white linen, with cymbals and with harps and lyres, stood eastward of the altar, —and, with them, priests to the number of a hundred-and-twenty, blowing with trumpets,

All the descendants of Levi who were musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, their sons and their other relatives—stood on the east side of the altar. They were wearing linen clothes, and they were playing cymbals, harps, and lyres. There were 120 other priests who were blowing trumpets.

13 then came it to pass, when the trumpeters and the singers were, as one, to make one sound to be heard in offering praise and giving thanks unto Yahweh—yea when they did lift on high the voice, with the trumpets and with the cymbals and with the instruments of song, yea in offering praise unto Yahweh—For he is good, For, age-abiding, is his lovingkindness, that, the house, was filled with the cloud of the glory of Yahweh;

The men blowing trumpets, those playing the cymbals and other musical instruments, and the singers, made music together, praising Yahweh and singing this song: “Yahweh is good [to us]; he faithfully loves us forever.” Then [suddenly] the temple was filled with a cloud.

14 and the priests could not stand to minister, by reason of the cloud, -for, the glory of Yahweh, filled, the house of God.

The glorious radiance of Yahweh filled the temple, with the result that the priests were not able to continue doing their work.