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C hronicles – E Z R A – N E H E M I A H
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in clay molds in the Jordan Valley between Succoth and Zarethan. Sol
omon used such great quantities of bronze that its weight could not be
determined.
Solomon also made all the furnishings for the Temple of God:
the gold altar;
the tables for the Bread of the Presence;
the lampstands and their lamps of solid gold, to burn in front of the
Most Holy Place as prescribed;
the flower decorations, lamps, and tongs—all of the purest gold;
the lamp snuffers, bowls, ladles, and incense burners—all of solid
gold;
the doors for the entrances to the Most Holy Place and the main room
of the Temple, overlaid with gold.
So Solomon finished all his work on the Temple of the Lord. Then
he brought all the gifts his father, David, had dedicated—the silver, the
gold, and the various articles—and he stored them in the treasuries of the
Temple of God.
Solomon then summoned to Jerusalem the elders of Israel and all the
heads of tribes—the leaders of the ancestral families of Israel. They were
to bring the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant to the Temple from its location in
the City of David, also known as Zion. So all the men of Israel assembled
before the king at the annual Festival of Shelters, which is held in early
autumn.
When all the elders of Israel arrived, the Levites picked up the Ark. The
priests and Levites brought up the Ark along with the special tent and all
the sacred items that had been in it. 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!
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. The cherubim spread their wings over the Ark,
forming a canopy over the Ark and its carrying poles. 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. 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 Egypt.
Then the priests left the Holy Place. All the priests who were present
had purified themselves, whether or not they were on duty that day. And
the Levites who were m
usicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and all their
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