3. And all the elders of Israel arrived, and the priests took up the ark.
4. And they carried the ark of the Lord, and the tabernacle of the covenant, and all the vessels of the Sanctuary, which were in the tabernacle; and the priests and the Levites carried these.
5. Then king Solomon, and the entire multitude of Israel, who had assembled before him, advanced with him before the ark. And they immolated sheep and oxen, which could not be numbered or estimated.
6. And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the oracle of the temple, in the Holy of Holies, under the wings of the cherubim.
7. For indeed, the cherubim extended their wings over the place of the ark, and they protected the ark and its bars from above.
8. And since the bars projected outward, their ends were visible from without, in the Sanctuary before the oracle; but they were not visible farther outward. And they have been in that place even to the present day.
9. Now inside the ark, there was nothing other than the two tablets of stone, which Moses had placed in it at Horeb, when the Lord formed a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they departed from the land of Egypt.
10. Then it happened that, when the priests had exited from the Sanctuary, a cloud filled the house of the Lord.
11. And the priests were unable to stand and minister, because of the cloud. For the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.
12. Then Solomon said: "The Lord has said that he would dwell in a cloud.
13. Building, I have built a house as your dwelling place, your most firm throne forever."
14. And the king turned his face, and he blessed the entire assembly of Israel. For the entire assembly of Israel was standing.
15. And Solomon said: "Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to my father David, and who, with his own hands, has perfected it, saying:
16. 'From the day when I led my people Israel away from Egypt, I did not choose any city out of all the tribes of Israel, so that a house would be built, and so that my name might be there. Instead, I chose David to be over my people Israel.'
17. And my father David wanted to build a house to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
18. But the Lord said to my father David: 'Since you have planned in your heart to build a house to my name, you have done well by considering this plan in your mind.
19. Yet truly, you shall not build a house for me. Instead, your son, who shall go forth from your loins, he himself shall build a house to my name.'