3. When all the elders of Israel arrived, the priests picked up the Ark.
4. The priests and Levites brought up the Ark of the lord along with the special tent and all the sacred items that had been in it.
5. There, before the Ark, King Solomon and the entire community of Israel sacrificed so many sheep, goats, and cattle that no one could keep count!
6. Then the priests carried the Ark of the lord’s Covenant into the inner sanctuary of the Temple—the Most Holy Place—and placed it beneath the wings of the cherubim.
7. The cherubim spread their wings over the Ark, forming a canopy over the Ark and its carrying poles.
8. These poles were so long that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place, which is in front of the Most Holy Place, but not from the outside. They are still there to this day.
9. Nothing was in the Ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Mount Sinai, where the lord made a covenant with the people of Israel when they left the land of Egypt.
10. When the priests came out of the Holy Place, a thick cloud filled the Temple of the lord.
11. The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the lord filled the Temple of the lord.
12. Then Solomon prayed, “O lord, you have said that you would live in a thick cloud of darkness.
13. Now I have built a glorious Temple for you, a place where you can live forever!”
14. Then the king turned around to the entire community of Israel standing before him and gave this blessing:
15. “Praise the lord, the God of Israel, who has kept the promise he made to my father, David. For he told my father,
16. ‘From the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have never chosen a city among any of the tribes of Israel as the place where a Temple should be built to honor my name. But I have chosen David to be king over my people Israel.’”
17. Then Solomon said, “My father, David, wanted to build this Temple to honor the name of the lord, the God of Israel.
18. But the lord told him, ‘You wanted to build the Temple to honor my name. Your intention is good,
19. but you are not the one to do it. One of your own sons will build the Temple to honor me.’
20. “And now the lord has fulfilled the promise he made, for I have become king in my father’s place, and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the lord promised. I have built this Temple to honor the name of the lord, the God of Israel.