2 Samuel 6:12-23

Common English Bible

¹² King David was told, “The Lord has blessed Obed-edom’s family and everything he has because of God’s chest being there.”^[a] So David went and brought God’s chest up from Obed-edom’s house to David’s City with celebration. ¹³ Whenever those bearing the chest advanced six steps, David sacrificed an ox and a fatling calf. ¹⁴ David, dressed in a linen priestly vest,^[b] danced with all his strength before the Lord. ¹⁵ This is how David and the entire house of Israel brought up the Lord’s chest with shouts and trumpet blasts.

¹⁶ As the Lord’s chest entered David’s City, Saul’s daughter Michal was watching from a window. She saw King David jumping and dancing before the Lord, and she lost all respect for him.^[c]

¹⁷ The Lord’s chest was brought in and put in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it. Then David offered entirely burned offerings in the Lord’s presence in addition to well-being sacrifices. ¹⁸ When David finished offering the entirely burned offerings and the well-being sacrifices, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of heavenly forces. ¹⁹ He distributed food among all the people of Israel—to the whole crowd, male and female—each receiving a loaf of bread, a date cake, and a raisin cake. Then all the people went back to their homes.

²⁰ David went home to bless his household, but Saul’s daughter Michal came out to meet him. “How did Israel’s king honor himself today?” she said. “By exposing himself in plain view of the female servants of his subjects like any indecent person would!”

²¹ David replied to Michal, “I was celebrating before the Lord, who chose me over your father and his entire family, and who appointed me leader over the Lord’s people, over Israel—and I will celebrate before the Lord again! ²² I may humiliate myself even more, and I may be humbled in my own eyes, but I will be honored by the female servants you are talking about!”

²³ Michal, Saul’s daughter, had no children to the day she died.