Today’s scripture comes from the book of 1st Kings, and is read in the Common English Bible:
When King Hiram of Tyre heard that Solomon had succeeded his father David, he sent envoys, for Hiram had always been a friend to David. Solomon replied, “You know my father could not build a house for the Lord because of war on every side, but now God has given me peace. I will build a house for the name of the Lord, as God promised my father.”
Then Solomon gathered Israel’s elders and leaders in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the covenant from the city of David. The priests and Levites carried the ark, the tent, and the sacred vessels, while Solomon and all Israel offered countless sacrifices. They set the ark in the inner sanctuary beneath the wings of the cherubim. Nothing was in the ark but the tablets of stone placed there by Moses at Horeb. When the priests withdrew, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 1
