There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses had placed there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt.
Then he brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, and gave him the covenant; they proclaimed him king, and Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and they shouted, “Long live the king!”
You shall place it in front of the curtain that is above the ark of the covenant, in front of the cover that is over the covenant, where I will meet with you.
The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron not to come just at any time into the sanctuary inside the curtain before the cover that is upon the ark, or he will die, for I appear in the cloud upon the cover.
When Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he would hear the voice speaking to him from above the cover that was on the ark of the covenant from between the two cherubim; thus it spoke to him.