Bible Strands
1 Kings 8:3
When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator records the moment during Solomon’s autumn feast when the elders of Israel gather and the priests prepare to move the ark.
The words — The verb וַ/יִּשְׂא֥וּ (va/i.yis.'U) translates literally as "and they lifted," denoting the priests' physical act of raising the ark.
The thread — This action continues the pattern of priests carrying the ark ahead of the assembly (Joshua 3:6) and fulfilling the earlier charge to give the law to the Levites who bore it (Deuteronomy 31:9).
Why it lands — The text assigns the direct handling of the ark to the priests, requiring readers to recognize the established ritual protocol for managing sacred objects during national worship.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 31:9 So Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel.
- Joshua 3:6 And he said to the priests, “Take the ark of the covenant and go on ahead of the people.” So they carried the ark of the covenant and went ahead of them.
- Numbers 4:15 When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all their equipment, as soon as the camp is ready to move, the Kohathites shall come and do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy objects, or they will die. These are the transportation duties of the Kohathites regarding the Tent of Meeting.
- Joshua 3:3 and commanded the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God being carried by the Levitical priests, you are to set out from your positions and follow it.
- Numbers 7:9 But he did not give any to the Kohathites, since they were to carry on their shoulders the holy objects for which they were responsible.
- Joshua 3:14 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carried the ark of the covenant ahead of them.
- Joshua 4:9 Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant stood. And the stones are there to this day.
- Joshua 6:6 So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said, “Take up the ark of the covenant and have seven priests carry seven rams’ horns in front of the ark of the LORD.”
- 1 Chronicles 15:2 Then David said, “No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, because the LORD has chosen them to carry the ark of the LORD and to minister before Him forever.”
- 1 Chronicles 15:11 David summoned the priests Zadok and Abiathar and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab.