The Ark Comes to Jerusalem

15 David built houses for himself in the city of David, and he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it.^{(A) 2} Then David said, “No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, because the Lord has chosen them to carry the ark of the Lord and to minister before Him forever.”^(B)

³ David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem^(C) to bring the ark of the Lord to the place he had prepared for it.^{(D) 4} Then he gathered together the descendants of Aaron and the Levites:

⁵ From the Kohathites, Uriel the leader and 120 of his relatives; ⁶ from the Merarites, Asaiah the leader and 220 of his relatives; ⁷ from the Gershomites,^[a] Joel the leader and 130 of his relatives; ⁸ from the Elizaphanites, Shemaiah the leader and 200 of his relatives; ⁹ from the Hebronites, Eliel the leader and 80 of his relatives; ¹⁰ from the Uzzielites, Amminadab the leader and 112 of his relatives.

¹¹ David summoned the priests Zadok^(E) and Abiathar^(F) and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab. ¹² He said to them, “You are the heads of the Levite families. You and your relatives must consecrate yourselves^(G) so that you may bring the ark of the Lord God of Israel to the place I have prepared for it.^{(H) 13} For the Lord our God burst out in anger against us because you Levites were not with us the first time, for we didn’t inquire of Him about the proper procedures.”^{(I) 14} So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁵ Then the Levites carried the ark of God the way Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord: on their shoulders with the poles.^(J)

¹⁶ Then David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their relatives as singers and to have them raise their voices with joy accompanied by musical instruments—harps, lyres, and cymbals.^{(K) 17} So the Levites appointed Heman son of Joel; from his relatives, Asaph son of Berechiah; and from their relatives the Merarites, Ethan son of Kushaiah. ¹⁸ With them were their relatives second in rank: Zechariah, Jaaziel,^[b] Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, and the gatekeepers Obed-edom and Jeiel. ¹⁹ The singers Heman, Asaph, and Ethan were to sound the bronze cymbals; ²⁰ Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah were to play harps according to Alamoth;^{[c] 21} and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were to lead the music with lyres according to the Sheminith. ²² Chenaniah, the leader of the Levites in music, was to direct the music because he was skillful. ²³ Berechiah and Elkanah were to be gatekeepers for the ark. ²⁴ The priests, Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, were to blow trumpets^(L) before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah were also to be gatekeepers for the ark.

²⁵ David,^(M) the elders of Israel, and the commanders of thousands went with rejoicing to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the house of Obed-edom.^{(N) 26} While the Levites were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, with God’s help, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.^(O)

²⁷ Now David was dressed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, as well as the singers and Chenaniah, the music leader of the singers. David also wore a linen ephod. ²⁸ So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouts, the sound of the ram’s horn, trumpets, and cymbals, and the playing of harps and lyres. ²⁹ As the ark of the covenant of the Lord was entering the city of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from the window and saw King David dancing^[d] and celebrating, and she despised him in her heart.

16 They^(P) brought the ark of God and placed it inside the tent David had pitched for it.^(Q) Then they offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings in God’s presence. ² When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of Yahweh. ³ Then he distributed to each and every Israelite, both men and women, a loaf of bread, a date cake, and a raisin cake.

⁴ David appointed some of the Levites to be ministers before the ark of the Lord, to celebrate the Lord God of Israel, and to give thanks and praise to Him. ⁵ Asaph was the chief and Zechariah was second to him. Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel played the harps and lyres, while Asaph sounded the cymbals ⁶ and the priests Benaiah and Jahaziel blew the trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God.

David’s Psalm of Thanksgiving

⁷ On that day David decreed for the first time that thanks be given to the Lord by Asaph and his relatives:

Then all the people said, “Amen” and “Praise the Lord.”

The Guilt of the Gentile World

¹⁸ For God’s wrath^(A) is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth,^{(B) 19} since what can be known^[a] about God is evident among them,^(C) because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world,^(D) being understood through what He has made.^(E) As a result, people are without excuse. ²¹ For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened.^{(F) 22} Claiming to be wise, they became fools^{(G) 23} and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.^(H)

²⁴ Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts^(I) to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. ²⁵ They exchanged the truth of God for a lie,^(J) and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever.^(K) Amen.

From Idolatry to Depravity

²⁶ This is why God delivered them over to degrading passions.^(L) For even their females exchanged natural sexual relations^[b] for unnatural ones. ²⁷ The males in the same way also left natural relations^[c] with females and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males^(M) and received in their own persons^[d] the appropriate penalty of their error.

²⁸ And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong. ²⁹ They are filled with all unrighteousness,^[e] evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,^{(N) 30} slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful,^(O) inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,^{(P) 31} undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving,^[f](Q) and unmerciful. ³² Although they know full well God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die^[g](R)—they not only do them, but even applaud^[h](S) others who practice them.

Psalm 10