Arca da aliança
A Arca da Aliança era o símbolo mais sagrado de Israel — representava a presença de Deus no meio do seu povo. Sobre ela brilhava a glória do Senhor entre os querubins.
And thou shalt make the ark of testimony of incorruptible wood; the length of two cubits and a half, and the breadth of a cubit and a half, and the height of a cubit and a half. And thou shalt gild it with pure gold, thou shalt gild it within and without; and thou shalt make for it golden wreaths twisted round about. And thou shalt cast for it four golden rings, and shalt put them on the four sides; two rings on the one side, and two rings on the other side. And thou shalt make staves of incorruptible wood, and shalt gild them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the rings on the sides of the ark, to bear the ark with them. The staves shall remain fixed in the rings of the ark. And thou shalt put into the ark the testimonies which I shall give thee. And thou shalt make a propitiatory, a lid of pure gold; the length of two cubits and a half, and the breadth of a cubit and a half. And thou shalt make two cherubs graven in gold, and thou shalt put them on both sides of the propitiatory. They shall be made, one cherub on this side, and another cherub on the other side of the propitiatory; and thou shalt make the two cherubs on the two sides. The cherubs shall stretch forth their wings above, overshadowing the propitiatory with their wings; and their faces shall be toward each other, the faces of the cherubs shall be toward the propitiatory. And thou shalt set the propitiatory on the ark above, and thou shalt put into the ark the testimonies which I shall give thee.
And I will make myself known to thee from thence, and I will speak to thee above the propitiatory between the two cherubs, which are upon the ark of testimony, even in all things which I shall charge thee concerning the children of Israel.
And they made ten curtains for the tabernacle;
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, On the first day of the first month, at the new moon, thou shalt set up the tabernacle of witness, and thou shalt place in it the ark of the testimony, and shalt cover the ark with the veil,
And he took the testimonies, and put them into the ark; and he put the staves by the sides of the ark. And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and put on it the covering of the veil, and covered the ark of the testimony, as the Lord commanded Moses.
When Moses went into the tabernacle of witness to speak to God, then he heard the voice of the Lord speaking to him from off the mercy-seat, which is upon the ark of the testimony, between the two cherubs; and he spoke to him.
And they departed from the mount of the Lord a three days' journey; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them a three days' journey to provide rest for them. And it came to pass when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Arise, O Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered: let all that hate thee flee. And in the resting he said, Turn again, O Lord, the thousands and tens of thousands in Israel. And the cloud overshadowed them by day, when they departed from the camp.
And the Lord said to Moses, and to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, Take up the brazen censers out of the midst of the men that have been burnt, and scatter the strange fire yonder, for they have sanctified the censers of these sinners against their own souls, and do thou make them beaten plates a covering to the altar, because they were brought before the Lord and hallowed; and they became a sign to the children of Israel. And Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest took the brazen censers, which the men who had been burnt brought near, and they put them as a covering on the altar: a memorial to the children of Israel that no stranger might draw nigh, who is not of the seed of Aaron, to offer incense before the Lord; so he shall not be as Core and as they that conspired with him, as the Lord spoke to him by the hand of Moses.
And the children of Israel murmured the next day against Moses and Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the Lord. And it came to pass when the congregation combined against Moses and Aaron, that they ran impetuously to the tabernacle of witness; and the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared. And Moses and Aaron went in, in front of the tabernacle of witness.
And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, Depart out of the midst of this congregation, and I will consume them at once: and they fell upon their faces. And Moses said to Aaron, Take a censer, and put on it fire from the altar, and put incense on it, and carry it away quickly into the camp, and make atonement for them; for wrath is gone forth from the presence of the Lord, it has begun to destroy the people.
And the people removed from their tents to cross over Jordan, and the priests bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord before the people. And when the priests that bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord entered upon Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord were dipped in part of the water of Jordan; (now Jordan overflowed all its banks about the time of wheat harvest:) then the waters that came down from above stopped; there stood one solid heap very far off, as far as the region of Kariathiarim, and the lower part came down to the sea of Araba, the salt sea, till it completely failed; and the people stood opposite Jericho. And the priests that bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry land in the midst of Jordan; and all the children of Israel went through on dry land, until all the people had completely gone over Jordan.
And it came to pass when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord were gone up out of Jordan, and set their feet upon the land, that the water of Jordan returned impetuously to its place, and went as before over all its banks.
Now Jericho was closely shut up and besieged, and none went out of it, and none came in. And the Lord said to Joshua, Behold, I deliver Jericho into thy power, and its king in it, and its mighty men. And do thou set the men of war round about it. And it shall be that when ye shall sound with the trumpet, all the people shall shout together. And when they have shouted, the walls of the city shall fall of themselves; and all the people shall enter, each one rushing direct into the city.
And Joshua the son of Naue went in to the priests, and spoke to them, saying, Charge the people to go round, and encompass the city; and let your men of war pass on armed before the Lord.
And the priests sounded with the trumpets: and when the people heard the trumpets, all the people shouted at once with a loud and strong shout; and all the wall fell round about, and all the people went up into the city:
And the Philistines prepare to fight with Israel, and the battle was turned against them; and the men of Israel fell before the Philistines, and there were smitten in the battle in the field four thousand men.
And the people came to the camp, and the elders of Israel said, Why has the Lord caused us to fall this day before the Philistines? let us take the ark of our God out of Selom, and let it proceed from the midst of us, and it shall save us from the hand of our enemies.
And the people sent to Selom, and they take thence the ark of the Lord who dwells between the cherubs: and both the sons of Heli, Ophni and Phinees, were with the ark. And it came to pass when the ark of the Lord entered into the camp, that all Israel cried out with a loud voice, and the earth resounded. And the Philistines heard the cry, and the Philistines said, What is this great cry in the camp of the Hebrews: and they understood that the ark of the Lord was come into the camp. And the Philistines feared, and said, These are the Gods that are come to them into the camp. Woe to us, O Lord, deliver us to-day, for such a thing has not happened aforetime: woe to us, who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote Egypt with every plague, and in the wilderness. Strengthen yourselves and behave yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye may not serve the Hebrews as they have served us, but be ye men and fight with them.
And they fought with them; and the men of Israel fall, and they fled every man to his tent; and there was a very great slaughter; and there fell of Israel thirty thousand fighting men. And the ark of God was taken, and both the sons of Heli, Ophni and Phinees, died.
And the hand of the Lord was heavy upon Azotus, and he brought evil upon them, and it burst out upon them into the ships, and mice sprang up in the midst of their country, and there was a great and indiscriminate mortality in the city. And the men of Azotus saw that it was so, and they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us, for his hand is heavy upon us and upon Dagon our god. And they send and gather the lords of the Philistines to them, and say, What shall we do to the ark of the God of Israel? and the Gittites say, Let the ark of God come over to us; and the ark of the God of Israel came to Geth.
And it came to pass after it went about to Geth, that the hand of the Lord comes upon the city, a very great confusion; and he smote the men of the city small and great, and smote them in their secret parts: and the Gittites made to themselves images of emerods.
And they send away the ark of God to Ascalon; and it came to pass when the ark of God went into Ascalon, that the men of Ascalon cried out, saying, Why have ye brought back the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people? And they send and gather the lords of the Philistines, and they said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it lodge in its place; and let it not slay us and our people.
And the ark was seven months in the country of the Philistines, and their land brought forth swarms of mice. And the Philistines call their priests, and their prophets, and their enchanters, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the Lord? teach us wherewith we shall send it away to its place. And they said, If ye send away the ark of the covenant of the Lord God of Israel, do not on any account send it away empty, but by all means render to it an offering for the plague; and then shall ye be healed, and an atonement shall be made for you: should not his hand be thus stayed from off you?
And the Philistines did so; and they took two cows that had calved for the first time, and yoked them to the waggon, and shut up their calves at home. And they set the ark of the Lord, and the coffer, and the golden mice, on the waggon. And the cows went straight on the way to the way of Bæthsamys, they went along one track; and laboured, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after it as far as the coasts of Bæthsamys. And the men of Bæthsamys were reaping the wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark of the Lord, and rejoiced to meet it. And the waggon entered into the field of Osee, which was in Bæthsamys, and they set there by it a great stone; and they split the wood of the waggon, and offered up the cows for a whole-burnt-offering to the Lord. And the Levites brought up the ark of the Lord, and the coffer with it, and the golden articles upon it, and placed them on the great stone, and the men of Bæthsamys offered whole-burnt-offerings and meat-offerings on that day to the Lord.
And the men of Cariathiarim come, and bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord: and they bring it into the house of Aminadab in the hill; and they sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
And it came to pass from the time that the ark was in Cariathiarim, the days were multiplied, and the time was twenty years; and all the house of Israel looked after the Lord.
And it was reported to king David, saying, The Lord has blessed the house of Abeddara, and all that he has, because of the ark of the Lord. And David went, and brought up the ark of the Lord from the house of Abeddara to the city of David with gladness. And there were with him bearing the ark seven bands, and for a sacrifice a calf and lambs. And David sounded with well-tuned instruments before the Lord, and David was clothed with a fine long robe. And David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of a trumpet.
And it came to pass when Solomon had finished building the house of the Lord and his own house after twenty years, then king Solomon assembled all the elders of Israel in Sion, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, this is Sion, in the month of Athanin.
And the priests took up the ark, and the tabernacle of testimony, and the holy furniture that was in the tabernacle of testimony. And the king and all Israel were occupied before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, without number. And the priests bring in the ark into its place, into the oracle of the house, even into the holy of holies, under the wings of the cherubs. For the cherubs spread out their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubs covered the ark and its holy things above. And the holy staves projected, and the ends of the holy staves appeared out of the holy places in front of the oracle, and were not seen without. There was nothing in the ark except the two tables of stone, the tables of the covenant which Moses put there in Choreb, which tables the Lord made as a covenant with the children of Israel in their going forth from the land of Egypt.
And it came to pass when the priests departed out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house. And the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, because the glory of the Lord filled the house.
Turn, ye children that have revolted, saith the Lord; for I will rule over you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you in to Sion: and I will give you shepherds after my heart, and they shall certainly tend you with knowledge.
And it shall come to pass that when ye are multiplied and increased upon the land, saith the Lord, in those days they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Holy One of Israel: it shall not come to mind; it shall not be named; neither shall it be visited; nor shall this be done any more.