The sacred chest was brought to the temple

8 Solomon then summoned to Jerusalem all the elders of Israel, all the leaders of the tribes, and the leaders of the clans. He wanted them to join in bringing Yahweh’s Sacred Chest from Zion Hill to the temple, where it was in the part of the city called ‘The City of David’. 2 So all the Israeli leaders came to King Solomon during the Festival of Living in Temporary Shelters, in October.

3 When they had all arrived, the priests lifted up the Sacred Chest 4 and brought it to the temple. The descendants of Levi who assisted the priests helped them to carry to the temple the Sacred Tent and all the sacred things that had been in the tent. 5 Then King Solomon and many of the Israeli people who had gathered in front of Yahweh’s Sacred Chest sacrificed a huge amount of sheep and oxen. No one was able to count the sacrifices because there were so many.

6 The the priests then brought the Sacred Chest into the Very Holy Place in the temple, and they placed it under the wings of the statues of the winged creatures. 7 The wings of those statues spread out over the Sacred Chest and over the poles by which it was carried. 8 The poles were so long that the ends of the poles could be seen by people who were standing at the entrance to the Most Holy Place, but they could not be seen by people standing outside the temple. Those poles are still there. 9 The only things that were in the Sacred Chest were the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Sinai Mountain, where Yahweh made an agreement with the people after they left Egypt.

10 When the priests came out of the temple, suddenly it was filled with a cloud. 11 It was the glory/radiance of Yahweh that filled the temple, with the result that the priests were not able to continue their work.

12 Then Solomon prayed this:

“Yahweh, you have placed the sun in the sky,

but you have decided that you would live in very dark clouds.

13 I have built for you a magnificent temple,

a place for you to live in forever.”

14 Then, while all the people stood there, the king turned around and faced them, and he asked God to bless them. 15 He said, “Praise Yahweh, the God whom we Israelis belong! By his own power he has done what he promised to give to my father David. What he promised was this:

16 ‘From the time that I brought my people out of Egypt, I have never chosen any city in Israel in which a temple should be built for my people to worship me there. But I chose you, David, to rule my people.”

17 Then Solomon said, “My father David wanted to build a temple in order that we Israeli people could worship Yahweh our God there. 18 But Yahweh said to him, ‘You have wanted to build a temple for me, and what you wanted to do was good. 19 However, you are not the one who I want to build it. It is one of your sons, who I want to build a temple for me.’

20 And now Yahweh has done what he promised to do. I have become the king of Israel to succeed my father, and I am ruling my people, like Yahweh promised. I have arranged for this temple to be built for us Israelis to worship Yahweh, the God, to whom we Israelis belong. 21 I have also provided a place in the temple for the Sacred Chest in which are the two stone tablets on which are engraved the Ten Commandments of the agreement that Yahweh made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”