2 Chronicles 5

1 Thus all the work that Solomon made for the house of the LORD was finished: and Solomon brought in all the things that David his father had dedicated; and the silver, and the gold, and all the instruments, he put 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 assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers of the children of Israel, to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the city of David, which 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 Therefore all the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king in the feast which was in 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; and the Levites took up 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 tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, these did the priests and the Levites bring 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 Also king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled to him before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen, which could not be counted nor numbered 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 the LORD to its place, to the inner sanctuary of the house, into the most holy place, even under 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 spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and the staffs of it 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 staffs of the ark, that the ends of the staffs were seen from the ark before the inner sanctuary; but they were not seen without. And there it is to 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 except the two tables which Moses put in it at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came 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 had come out of the holy place: (for all the priests that were present were sanctified, and did not then wait by course:

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 Also the Levites who were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding 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 It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD;

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 So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had 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.