7. The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its carrying poles.
8. These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today.
9. There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.
10. When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord.
11. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple.
12. Then Solomon said, ‘The Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud;
13. I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell for ever.’
14. While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned round and blessed them.
15. Then he said:‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his own hand has fulfilled what he promised with his own mouth to my father David. For he said,
16. “Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city in any tribe of Israel to have a temple built so that my Name might be there, but I have chosen David to rule my people Israel.”
17. ‘My father David had it in his heart to build a temple for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
18. But the Lord said to my father David, “You did well to have it in your heart to build a temple for my Name.