There was nothing in the ark except the two tables which Moses put in it at Horeb, when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.
Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
And he gave to Moses, when he had made an end of speaking with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.
And it came to pass, as soon as he came near to the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger became hot, and he threw down the tables out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mount.
And the LORD said to Moses, Cut two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which you broke.
These are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.
Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, in which was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;