11 Then David called for the priests (A)Zadok and (B)Abiathar, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab; 12 and he said to them, “You are the heads of the fathers’ households of the Levites; (C)consecrate yourselves, you and your relatives, so that you may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel (D)to the place that I have prepared for it. 13 (E)Because you did not carry it at the first, the Lord our God made an outburst against us, since we did not seek Him according to the ordinance.” 14 (F)So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel. 15 The sons of (G)the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles on them, just as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the Lord.

16 Then David spoke to the chiefs of the Levites (H)to appoint their relatives as the singers, with musical instruments, harps, lyres, and cymbals, playing to raise sounds of joy. 17 So (I)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, [a]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 harps tuned to [b](J)alamoth; 21 and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah, to lead with [c]lyres tuned to (K)the sheminith. 22 Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was in charge of the singing; he gave instruction in singing because he was skillful. 23 Berechiah and Elkanah were gatekeepers for the ark. 24 Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, (L)blew the trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah also were gatekeepers for the ark.

25 (M)So it was David, with the elders of Israel and the captains of thousands, who went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from (N)the house of Obed-edom with joy. 26 Because God was helping the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, they sacrificed (O)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, and the singers, and Chenaniah the leader of the singing with the singers. (P)David also wore an ephod of linen. 28 So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the horn, with trumpets, with loud-sounding cymbals, with harps, and lyres.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Chronicles 15:18 Omitted in LXX and many mss
  2. 1 Chronicles 15:20 Or perhaps the pitch of young girls
  3. 1 Chronicles 15:21 Or octave

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