A reading from the book of first kings.

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes,

the leaders of the father's houses of the people of Israel, before King Solomon in Jerusalem,

to bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion.

And all the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the

feast in the month, Ethanem, which is the seventh month, and all the elders of Israel came,

and the priests took up the ark, and they brought up the Ark of the Lord, the tent of

meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent, the priests and the Levites brought

them up. And King Solomon and all the congregation of

Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen

that they could not be counted or numbered. Then the priest brought the ark of the covenant of the

Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the most holy place, underneath the wings of the

cherubim. For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim

overshadowed the ark and its poles, and the poles were so long that the ends of the poles

were seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside,

and they are there to this day.

There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horib,

where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of the land of

Egypt, and when the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord,

so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the

cloud for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. Then Solomon said,

The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. I have indeed built you an exalted house,

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