Ark Comes Into Jerusalem

6 Now David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, 30,000. ² Then David and all the people who were with him arose and set out from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name^[a], the very Name of Adonai-Tzva’ot who is enthroned between the cheruvim. ³ So they loaded the ark of God on a new cart and carried it out of the house of Abinadab that was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, Abinadab’s sons, drove the new cart ⁴ as they brought it from the house of Abinadab (which was on the hill) with the ark of God, and Ahio was walking in front of the ark.

⁵ Meanwhile David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating before Adonai with all kinds of instruments made of cypress wood, with harps, lyres, tambourines, three-stringed instruments and cymbals^[b]. ⁶ But when they reached the threshing floor of Nahon, Uzzah reached out to the ark of God and grasped it, for the oxen had stumbled. ⁷ Then the anger of Adonai was kindled against Uzzah. God struck him down there for his irreverence, so that he died there beside the ark of God. ⁸ David was upset because of Adonai’s outburst against Uzzah. That place is called Perez-uzzah^[c] to this day.

⁹ So David was frightened of Adonai that day. Then he said, “How can the ark of Adonai come to me?” ¹⁰ David was unwilling to move the ark of Adonai to him, to the City of David; instead, David diverted it to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. ¹¹ So the ark of Adonai remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months; meanwhile Adonai blessed Obed-edom and his entire household.

¹² Then it was reported to King David saying, “Adonai has blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought the ark of God up from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with joy. ¹³ Now when the bearers of the ark of Adonai had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. ¹⁴ Meanwhile, David was dancing before Adonai with all his might while he was wearing a linen ephod. ¹⁵ So David and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of Adonai with shouting and with the sound of the shofar.

Outstretched Hands

¹⁷ Those who consecrate and purify themselves to enter the groves, following after one in the midst, who eat swine’s flesh, vermin and mice, will come to an end altogether.

It is a declaration of Adonai. ¹⁸ “For I know their works and their thoughts. It will come about that I will gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see My glory.

²¹ Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat the meat! ²² For on the day that I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt I did not speak to them nor did I command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices, ²³ but I explicitly commanded them: ‘Obey My voice and I will be your God to you and you will be My people. Walk in all the ways that I command you that it may go well with you.’ ²⁴ But they did not listen or pay attention. Instead they followed their own counsel, in the stubbornness of their evil heart. They have gone backward and not forward, ²⁵ from the day your fathers left the land of Egypt until today. Although I sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily and persistently, ²⁶ they did not listen to Me or pay attention. Rather, they stiffened their neck, doing more evil than their fathers.

²⁷ “When you tell them all these things, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer you. ²⁸ So you will say to them, ‘This nation has not obeyed the voice of Adonai their God or received correction. Truth has perished and is cut off from their mouth. ²⁹ Cut off your hair and throw it away and take up a lamentation on the barren hills. For Adonai has spurned and cast off the generation of His wrath.”

Valley of Slaughter

³⁰ “The children of Judah have done what is evil in My sight”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“They have set their detestable things in the House that bears My Name to defile it. ³¹ They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire—which I did not command, nor did it even enter My mind. ³² Therefore, the days are soon coming,” declares Adonai, “when it will no longer be called Topheth, nor the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. For they will bury in Topheth until there is no room. ³³ The carcasses of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth, and no one will frighten them away. ³⁴ Then I will bring an end, from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem, to the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. For the land will be desolate.”

8 “At that time”—it is a declaration of Adonai—“the bones of the kings of Judah and the bones of his princes, the bones of the kohanim and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will be brought out of their graves. ² They will spread them out to the sun, the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and served, and after which they have walked and sought, and which they have worshipped. They will not be gathered or buried, but will be like dung on the face of the ground. ³ So death will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family that remains in all the places to which I have driven them.” It is a declaration of Adonai-Tzva’ot.

Boast in Knowing Adonai

²⁴ “Days are soon coming,” declares Adonai, “when I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised—