Solomon gathered together all the elders, heads of the tribes, and the princes of the house of Israel to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord up from the city of David (which is Zion). In the month of Ethanim (the seventh month) they gathered with Solomon. Then the priests took up the ark and brought it with them, with the tabernacle and the vessels of the sanctuary. The priests and Levites all went before the ark and sacrificed sheep and cattle, so many that they could not be counted. They brought the ark with poles and placed it under the cherubim-wing in the sanctuary. In the ark were the two stone tablets that Moses brought out of Egypt from Mount Ararat as a sign of the covenant with God our Lord.
Solomon said, “The Lord has placed the sun in the sky. But he wishes to live in the dark. That is why I built this house to the Lord.” The king turned his face around and blessed the people of Israel, “Blessed is the Lord, who has chosen his name to be in Jerusalem. God spoke to David, my father, and said that not he, but I, his son, should build him a house.”