Exodus 40:20

20 He took the words of God's promise and put them in the ark. He put the poles on the ark and placed the throne of mercy on top of the ark.

Exodus 40:20 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 40:20

And he took and put the testimony into the ark
The ten commands, called the "testimony", because they testified and declared what was the will of God with respect to things to be done, or not done. The Targum of Jonathan says, he put the broken pieces of the tables into it; but what became of them, or were done with them, we nowhere read; and it does not appear that any other, but those that Moses hewed by the order of God, were put into the ark; see ( Deuteronomy 10:1-5 )

and set the staves on the ark;
that it might be ready to be carried whenever a remove was necessary:

and put the mercy seat above upon the ark;
together with the cherubim.

Exodus 40:20 In-Context

18 When Moses set up the tent, he put the sockets in place, put up the frames, inserted the crossbars, and set up the posts.

19 He spread the outer tent over the inner tent and put the cover on top. Moses followed the LORD's instructions.

20 He took the words of God's promise and put them in the ark. He put the poles on the ark and placed the throne of mercy on top of the ark.

21 Then he brought the ark into the tent and hung the canopy over it to mark off where the ark was. Moses followed the LORD's instructions.

22 Moses put the table in the tent of meeting on the north side of the tent outside the canopy.