Nothing was in the ark except the two tables of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, when Adonai cut a covenant with the children of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt.
In the Tent of Meeting, outside the curtain which is before the Testimony, Aaron and his sons will set it in order, to burn from evening to morning before Adonai. It will be a statute forever throughout their generations, on behalf of Bnei-Yisrael.
You are to beat some of it into powder, and set it before the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It is to be most holy to you.
You are to set it in front of the curtain that is in front of the Ark of the Testimony, in front of the atonement cover that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with you.
When He had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave the two tablets of the Testimony to Moses—tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.
These are the accounts of the Tabernacle of the Testimony, as they were recorded according to the commandment of Moses, by the service of the Levites, under the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the kohen.
Instead, you are to appoint the Levites over the Tabernacle of the Testimony, over all its implements and all pertaining to it. They are to carry the Tabernacle and all its utensils, tend to it and camp around it.
The Levites are to camp around the Tabernacle of the Testimony, so that there will be no wrath unleashed on the community of Bnei-Yisrael. So the Levites are to maintain care of the Tabernacle of the Testimony.
Adonai said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s staff back in front of the Testimony to keep as a sign to the sons of rebellion, so that it may put an end to their grumblings against Me, and so they will not die.”