²⁵ So David and the elders of Israel and the commanders of units of a thousand went to bring up the ark^(A) of the covenant of the Lord from the house of Obed-Edom, with rejoicing.

¹² Now King David^(A) was told, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. ¹³ When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed^(B) a bull and a fattened calf. ¹⁴ Wearing a linen ephod,^(C) David was dancing^(D) before the Lord with all his might, ¹⁵ while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts^(E) and the sound of trumpets.^(F)

¹⁶ As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David,^(G) Michal^(H) daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.

¹⁷ They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it,^(I) and David sacrificed burnt offerings^(J) and fellowship offerings before the Lord. ¹⁸ After he had finished sacrificing^(K) the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed^(L) the people in the name of the Lord Almighty. ¹⁹ Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins^(M) to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women.^(N) And all the people went to their homes.

²⁰ When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked^(O) in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”

²¹ David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed^(P) me ruler^(Q) over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. ²² I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”

²³ And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.

Final Exhortations

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!^(A)

³ For it is we who are the circumcision,^(A) we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus,^(B) and who put no confidence in the flesh—

Psalm 100

A psalm. For giving grateful praise.

Psalm 95

¹⁶ Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication^(A) of the house of God with joy.

²⁷ Then, led by Jehoshaphat, all the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned joyfully to Jerusalem, for the Lord had given them cause to rejoice over their enemies. ²⁸ They entered Jerusalem and went to the temple of the Lord with harps and lyres and trumpets.