Portions: I Kings 8 - 10

When all the elders of Israel had arrived,
the priests took up the ark,
and they brought up the ark of the Lord
and the Ten of Meeting
and all the sacred furnishings in it.
The priests and Levites carried them up . . .
The priests then brought the ark of the Lord's covenant
to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple,
the Most Holy Place,
and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim
There was nothing in the ark
except the two stone tablets
that Moses had placed in it at Horeb . . .
When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place,
the cloud filled the temple of the Lord.
And the priests could not perform their service
because of the cloud,
for the glory of the Lord filled His temple.
(I Kings 8:3-4,6,9,10-11)

Three times a year Solomon sacrificed
burnt offerings and fellowship offerings
on the altar he had built for the Lord,
burning incense before the Lord along with them,
and so fulfilled the temple obligations.
(I Kings 9:25)

When the queen of Sheba heard
about the fame of Solomon
and his relation to the name of the Lord,
she came to test him with hard questions.
Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan -
with camels carrying spices,
large quantities of gold,
and precious stones -
she came to Solomon and talked with him
about all that she had on her mind.
Solomon answered all he questions;
nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her.
(I Kings 10:1-3)