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10 The Lord was so furious with Uzzah,[a] he killed him, because he reached out his hand and touched the ark.[b] He died right there before God.[c]

11 David was angry because the Lord attacked Uzzah;[d] so he called that place Perez Uzzah,[e] which remains its name to this very day. 12 David was afraid of God that day and said, “How will I ever be able to bring the ark of God up here?”

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Chronicles 13:10 tn Heb “and the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah.”
  2. 1 Chronicles 13:10 tn Heb “because he stretched out his hand over the ark.”
  3. 1 Chronicles 13:10 sn The modern reader might think God seemed to overreact here, but Israel needed a vivid object lesson of God’s holiness. By loading the ark on a cart, David had violated the instructions in God’s law (Exod 25:12-14; Num 4:5-6, 15). Uzzah’s action, however innocent it may seem, betrayed a certain lack of reverence for God’s presence. God had to remind his people that his holiness could not under any circumstances be violated.
  4. 1 Chronicles 13:11 tn Heb “because the Lord broke out [with] breaking out [i.e., an outburst] against Uzzah.”
  5. 1 Chronicles 13:11 sn The name Perez Uzzah means in Hebrew “the outburst [against] Uzzah.”