The cherubs’ wings extended over the place where the ark sat; the cherubs overshadowed the ark and its poles. ¹ 

When all Israel’s elders had arrived, the Levites lifted the ark.

The king ordered a chest to be made and placed outside the gate of the Lord’s temple. ¹ 

All the officials and all the people gladly brought their silver and threw it into the chest until it was full.

(Now David had brought up the ark of God from Kiriath Jearim to the place he had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem. ¹ 

The priests and Levites carried the ark, the tent where God appeared to his people, ¹  and all the holy items in the tent. ² 

Now King Solomon and all the Israelites who had assembled with him went on ahead of the ark and sacrificed more sheep and cattle than could be counted or numbered. ¹ 

The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its assigned ¹  place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, in the most holy place under the wings of the cherubs.

The poles were so long their ends extending out from the ark were visible from in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from beyond that point. ¹  They have remained there to this very day.

There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets Moses had placed there in Horeb. ¹  (It was there that ²  the Lord made an agreement with the Israelites after he brought them out of the land of Egypt.)

and set up in it a place for the ark containing the covenant the Lord made with the Israelites.”

Now ascend, O Lord God, to your resting place, you and the ark of your strength! May your priests, O Lord God, experience your deliverance! ¹  May your loyal followers rejoice in the prosperity you give! ² 

Whenever the Levites brought the chest to the royal accountant and they saw there was a lot of silver, the royal scribe and the accountant of the high priest emptied the chest and then took it back to its place. They went through this routine every day and collected a large amount of silver.

Then Solomon convened Israel’s elders – all the leaders of the Israelite tribes and families – in Jerusalem, ¹  so they could witness the transferal of the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the City of David ²  (that is, Zion). ³ 

Solomon moved Pharaoh’s daughter up from the City of David ¹  to the palace he had built for her, for he said, “My wife must not live in the palace of King David of Israel, for the places where the ark of the Lord has entered are holy.”

He told the Levites, who instructed all Israel about things consecrated to the Lord, “Place the holy ark in the temple which King Solomon son of David of Israel built. Don’t carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel!