1 Chronicles 15
Legacy Standard Bible
The Ark Is Brought to Jerusalem
15 Then David made houses for himself in the city of David; and he prepared a place for the ark of God and (A)pitched a tent for it. 2 And David said, “(B)No one is to carry the ark of God but the Levites; for Yahweh chose them to carry the ark of [a]God and to minister to Him forever.” 3 Then (C)David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of Yahweh (D)to its place which he had prepared for it. 4 And David gathered together the sons of Aaron and (E)the Levites:
5 of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, and 120 of his [b]relatives;
6 of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, and 220 of his relatives;
7 of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, and 130 of his relatives;
8 of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, and 200 of his relatives;
9 of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief, and 80 of his relatives;
10 of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, and 112 of his relatives.
11 Then David called for (F)Zadok and (G)Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel and Amminadab, 12 and said to them, “You are the heads of the fathers’ households of the Levites; (H)set yourselves apart as holy, both you and your relatives, that you may bring up the ark of Yahweh, the God of Israel, (I)to the place that I have prepared for it. 13 (J)Because you did not carry it at the first, Yahweh our God broke out against us, for we did not seek Him according to the legal judgment.” 14 (K)So the priests and the Levites set themselves apart as holy to bring up the ark of Yahweh, the God of Israel. 15 And the sons of (L)the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles thereon, as Moses had commanded according to the word of Yahweh.
16 Then David said to the chiefs of the Levites (M)to appoint their relatives the singers, with instruments of music, harps, lyres, loud-sounding cymbals, to raise a sound of gladness. 17 So (N)the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel, and from his relatives, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and from the sons of Merari their relatives, Ethan the son of Kushaiah, 18 and with them their relatives of the second rank, Zechariah, [c]Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel, the gatekeepers. 19 So the singers, Heman, Asaph and Ethan were appointed to sound aloud cymbals of bronze; 20 and Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with [d]harps set according to (O)alamoth; 21 and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah, to lead with [e]lyres set according to (P)the sheminith. 22 Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was in charge of the [f]singing; he gave instruction in singing because he had understanding. 23 Berechiah and Elkanah were gatekeepers for the ark. 24 Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, (Q)blew the trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah also were gatekeepers for the ark.
25 (R)So it was David, with the elders of Israel and the commanders over thousands, who went to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh from (S)the house of Obed-edom with gladness. 26 Now this happened because God was helping the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. And they sacrificed (T)seven bulls and seven rams. 27 Now David was clothed with a robe of fine linen with all the Levites who were carrying the ark, as well as the singers and Chenaniah the leader of the singing with the singers. (U)David also wore a linen ephod. 28 Thus all Israel was bringing up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh with shouting, and with sound of the [g]horn, with trumpets, with loud-sounding cymbals, with harps, and lyres.
29 Now it happened as the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came to the city of David, that (V)Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and celebrating; and she despised him in her heart.
Footnotes
- 1 Chronicles 15:2 Some mss Yahweh
- 1 Chronicles 15:5 Lit brothers, so in ch
- 1 Chronicles 15:18 Omitted in Gr and many mss
- 1 Chronicles 15:20 Or harps of maiden-like tone
- 1 Chronicles 15:21 Or octave harps
- 1 Chronicles 15:22 Lit bearing up
- 1 Chronicles 15:28 Or trumpet
1 Chronicles 15
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Ark Brought to Jerusalem
15 David[a] 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 commanded that no one but the Levites were to carry the ark of God, for the Lord had chosen them to carry the ark of the Lord and to minister to him forever.(B) 3 David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord to its place, which he had prepared for it.(C) 4 Then David gathered together the descendants of Aaron and the Levites: 5 of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, with one hundred twenty of his kindred; 6 of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, with two hundred twenty of his kindred; 7 of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, with one hundred thirty of his kindred; 8 of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, with two hundred of his kindred;(D) 9 of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief, with eighty of his kindred;(E) 10 of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, with one hundred twelve of his kindred.
11 David summoned the priests Zadok and Abiathar and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab.(F) 12 He said to them, “You are the heads of families of the Levites; sanctify yourselves, you and your kindred, so that you may bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it.(G) 13 Because you did not carry it[b] the first time,[c] the Lord our God burst out against us because we did not give it proper care.”(H) 14 So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel.(I) 15 And the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord.(J)
16 David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their kindred as singers to raise loud sounds of joy on musical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals.(K) 17 So the Levites appointed Heman son of Joel; and of his kindred Asaph son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari, their kindred, Ethan son of Kushaiah;(L) 18 and with them their kindred of the second order, Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and the gatekeepers Obed-edom and Jeiel. 19 The singers Heman, Asaph, and Ethan were to sound bronze cymbals; 20 Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah were to play harps according to Alamoth, 21 but Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were to lead with lyres according to the Sheminith.[d] 22 Chenaniah, leader of the Levites in music, was to direct the music, for he understood it. 23 Berechiah and Elkanah were to be gatekeepers for the ark. 24 Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, were to blow the trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah also were to be gatekeepers for the ark.(M)
25 So David and the elders of Israel and the commanders of the thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the house of Obed-edom with rejoicing.(N) 26 And because God helped the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams. 27 David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as also were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the leader of the music of the singers, and David wore a linen ephod. 28 So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, to the sound of the horn, trumpets, and cymbals, and made loud music on harps and lyres.(O)
29 As the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the city of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing, and she despised him in her heart.(P)
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