2 Chronicles 5

1 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.

Then Solomon brought in all the things that David his father had vowed, the silver, and the gold, and all the vessels, which he placed in the treasuries of the house of God.

2 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’.

After this, he gathered together those greater by birth of Israel, and all the leaders of the tribes, and the heads of the families, from the sons of Israel, to Jerusalem, so that they might bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the City of David, which is Zion.

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

And so, all the men of Israel went to the king, on the solemn day of the seventh month.

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

And when all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites carried the ark,

5 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.

and they brought it in, along with all the equipment of the tabernacle. Then too, the priests with the Levites carried the vessels of the sanctuary, which were in the tabernacle.

6 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].

Now king Solomon, and the entire assembly of Israel, and all who had gathered together before the ark, were immolating rams and oxen without any number, for so great was the multitude of the victims.

7 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.

And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, that is, to the oracle of the temple, in the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the cherubim,

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

so that the cherubim extended their wings over the place where the ark was positioned, and they covered the ark itself and its bars.

9 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.

But concerning the bars by which the ark was carried, because they were a little longer, the ends were able to be seen before the oracle. Yet truly, if anyone were a little ways toward the exterior, he would not be able to see them. And so the ark has been in that place, even to the present day.

10 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.

And there was nothing else in the ark, except the two tablets, which Moses had placed there at Horeb when the Lord gave the law to the sons of Israel, at the departure from Egypt.

11 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.

And having gone out from the Sanctuary, the priests (for all the priests who were able to be found there were sanctified, and in that time the turns and orders of the ministries had not yet been divided among them)

12 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.

with both the Levites and the singing men, that is, those who were under Asaph, and those who were under Heman, and those who were under Jeduthun, with their sons and brothers, clothed in fine linen, sounded out with cymbals, and psalteries, and harps, standing toward the eastern side of the altar. And with them were one hundred twenty priests, sounding out with trumpets.

13 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.

And when they all sounded out together, with trumpets, and voice, and cymbals, and pipes, and with various kinds of musical instruments, lifting their voice on high, the sound was heard from far away, so that when they had begun to praise the Lord, and to say, “Confess to the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy is eternal,” the house of God was filled with a cloud.

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

Neither were the priests able to stand and to minister, because of the cloud. For the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.