In 597 BC, the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple. There is no record of what became of the Ark in the Books of Kings and Chronicles. But the Greek 3rd Book of Ezra (1 Esdras) suggests that Babylonians took away the vessels of the ark of God (but does not mention taking away The Ark itself):
And they took all the holy vessels of the Lord, both great and small, with the vessels of the ark of God, and the king's treasures, and carried them away into Babylon.
–1 Esdras 1:54
In Rabbinic Literature, the final disposition of the Ark is disputed. Some rabbis hold that it must have been carried off to Babylon, while others hold that it must have been hidden lest it be carried off into Babylon and never brought back.[15] A late 2nd century rabbinic work known as the Tosefta brings down the opinions of these rabbis as to the Ark's whereabouts. There, it states anonymously that during the reign of Josiah the king of Judah he stored away the Ark, along with the jar of manna, and a jar containing the holy anointing oil, the rod of Aaron which budded and a chest given to Israel by the Philistines.[16] This was said to have been done in order to prevent their being carried off into Babylon as had already happened to the other vessels. Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Shimon, in the same rabbinic work, purport that the Ark was, in fact, taken into Babylon. Rabbi Yehudah, dissenting, says that the Ark was stored away in its own place, meaning, somewhere on the Temple Mount.
