Verse Lens · Concise explanation
1 Kings 8:2 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 2. 2And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence: “And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “The ark enters and the cloud fills the temple.”
Read It With
- 1 Kings 8:1–11
Read 1 Kings 8:2 with 8:1–11. The selected wording supplies one step in the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Assembles Israel's elders and tribal leaders in Jerusalem to bring the covenant ark from Zion; prevents priestly service because the LORD's glory fills the house.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “The ark enters and the cloud fills the temple,” 1 Kings 8:2 advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence through the wording “And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: 1 Kings 7:48–51 establishes this prior movement: Moves from bronze to the gold altar and gold table for the bread of the Presence; closes construction by placing David's dedicated silver, gold, and vessels in the temple treasuries. 1 Kings 8:1–11 continues the same royal, temple, household, prophetic, or military movement; that demonstrated relationship, rather than database adjacency alone, explains its placement.
Read 1 Kings 8:1–11 together
Why these verses belong together: The ark enters and the cloud fills the temple is the complete reviewed scene, prayer, oracle, list, or regnal notice bounded at 8:1–8:11.
Verse 1. 1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion.
Verse 2. 2 And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.
Verse 3. 3 And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.
Verse 4. 4 And they brought up the ark of the LORD, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, even those did the priests and the Levites bring up.
Verse 5. 5 And king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude.
Verse 6. 6 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims.
Verse 7. 7 For the cherubims spread forth their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof above.
Verse 8. 8 And they drew out the staves, that the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place before the oracle, and they were not seen without: and there they are unto this day.
Verse 9. 9 There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.
Verse 10. 10 And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD,
Verse 11. 11 So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.
What Remains True
Sacred beauty and public worship remain subordinate to God's freedom, covenant faithfulness, justice, and the dignity of people who build and serve. This unit tests that truth through assembles Israel's elders and tribal leaders in Jerusalem to bring the covenant ark from Zion; prevents priestly service because the LORD's glory fills the house. In 1 Kings 8:2, the concrete line “And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
How It Can Shape Life
- The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim….” Evaluate a building or worship project by truthful purpose, safe and fairly compensated labor, accountable costs, access, and whether its practices match the values it claims. This response follows from the unit's own sequence: Assembles Israel's elders and tribal leaders in Jerusalem to bring the covenant ark from Zion; prevents priestly service because the LORD's glory fills the house.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 1 Kings 8:1–11 — The ark enters and the cloud fills the templeSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: 1 Kings 8:1–11, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Kings
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording and morphology used for lexical, grammatical, name, clause, and older-English checks; this is not a critical apparatus or historical proof.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 8:1–11
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 1 Kings with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Only printed unit-level translation, lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, and verse-numbering notes; silence is not evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible 1 Kings PDF, printed pp. 599–602, translation and translator notes for 8:1–11
Open source ↗