3 Kings 8:9
Now in the ark there was nothing else but 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.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- In arca autem non erat aliud nisi duæ tabulæ lapideæ quas posuerat in ea Moyses in Horeb, quando pepigit Dominus fœdus cum filiis Israël, cum egrederentur de terra Ægypti.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- οὐκ ἦν ἐν τῇ κιβωτῷ πλὴν δύο πλάκες λίθιναι, πλάκες τῆς διαθήκης ἃ ἔθηκεν Μωυσῆς ἐν Χωρήβ, ἃ διέθετο Κύριος μετὰ τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ ἐν τῷ ἐκπορεύεσθαι αὐτοὺς ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- אֵ֚ין בָּֽאָר֔וֹן רַ֗ק שְׁנֵי֙ לֻח֣וֹת הָאֲבָנִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֨ר הִנִּ֥חַ שָׁ֛ם מֹשֶׁ֖ה בְּחֹרֵ֑ב אֲשֶׁ֨ר כָּרַ֤ת יְהוָה֙ עִם בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל בְּצֵאתָ֖ם מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם
Haydock's commentary
Nothing else, &c. There was nothing else but the tables of the law within the ark. But on the outside of the ark, or near the ark, were also the rod of Aaron, and a golden urn with manna, Hebrews ix. 4. (Challoner) (Worthington)
These might have been in the ark while it was not fixed: but after the temple was built, all but the tables were placed in the treasury; where, we find, the book of the law was discovered, under Joas, Deuteronomy xxxi. 26., and 2 Paralipomenon xxxiv. 14. Others think that, in the days of St. Paul, the rod, &c., might have been reposited in the ark, though they had not been admitted at the time when this book was written. (Bellarmine, &c.)
But we have no assurance that the ark was ever placed in the second temple; and Josephus informs us, that when the Romans destroyed the temple, "there was nothing at all" in the sanctuary. (Calmet)
In area might easily signify ad, or juxta arcam, "near the ark." (Salien)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Jerome The Letters of St. Jerome, To Eustochium
Like the ark of the covenant Christ’s spouse should be overlaid with gold within and without; she should be the guardian of the law of the Lord. Just as the ark contained nothing but the tables of the covenant, so in you there should be no thought of anything that is outside. For it pleases the Lord to sit in your mind as He once sat on the mercy-seat and the cherubims. As He sent His disciples to loose Him the foal of an ass that he might ride on it, so He sends them to release you from the cares of the world, that leaving the bricks and straw of Egypt, you may follow Him, the true Moses, through the wilderness and may enter the land of promise. …