The Ark Is Brought to Jerusalem

¹² Now it was told King David, saying, “The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, on account of the ark of God.” ^(A)David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into ^(B)the city of David with gladness.

Plans to Move the Ark to Jerusalem

15 Now David built 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 Then David said, “^(B)No one is to carry the ark of God but the Levites; for the Lord chose them to carry the ark of God and to minister to Him forever.” ³ And ^(C)David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord ^(D)to its place which he had prepared for it. ⁴ David gathered together the sons of Aaron and ^(E)the Levites: ⁵ of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, and 120 of his ^[a]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)consecrate yourselves both you and your relatives, that you may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel ^(I)to the place that I have prepared for it. ^13 (J)Because you did not carry it at the first, the Lord our God made an outburst on us, for we did not seek Him according to the ordinance.” ^14 (K)So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁵ 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 the Lord.

¹⁶ Then David spoke to the chiefs of the Levites ^(M)to appoint their relatives the singers, with instruments of music, harps, lyres, loud-sounding cymbals, to raise sounds of joy. 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, ^[b]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 ^[c]harps tuned to ^(O)alamoth; ²¹ and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel and Azaziah, to lead with ^[d]lyres tuned to ^(P)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, ^(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 captains over thousands, who went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from ^(S)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 ^(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, and the singers and Chenaniah the leader of the singing with the singers. ^(U)David also wore an ephod of linen. ²⁸ Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, and with sound of the horn, with trumpets, with loud-sounding cymbals, with harps and lyres.

¹³ And so it was, that when the ^(A)bearers of the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ^(B)ox and a fatling. ¹⁴ And ^(C)David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, and David was ^[a](D)wearing a linen ephod. ¹⁵ So David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouting and the sound of the trumpet.

¹⁶ Then it happened as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David that ^(E)Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.

²⁹ It happened when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the city of David, that ^(A)Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and celebrating; and she despised him in her heart.

¹⁷ So they brought in the ark of the Lord and set it ^(A)in its place inside the tent which David had pitched for it; and ^(B)David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. ¹⁸ When David had finished offering the burnt offering and the peace offering, ^(C)he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. ¹⁹ Further, he distributed to all the people, to all the multitude of Israel, both to men and women, a cake of bread and one of dates and one of raisins to each one. Then all the people departed each to his house.

A Tent for the Ark

16 And they brought in the ark of God and ^(A)placed it inside the tent which David had pitched for it, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. ² When David had finished offering the burnt offering and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. ³ He distributed to everyone of Israel, both man and woman, to everyone a loaf of bread and a portion of meat and a raisin cake.

⁴ He appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the Lord, even to celebrate and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel: ⁵ Asaph the chief, and second to him Zechariah, then ^[a]Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom and Jeiel, with musical instruments, harps, lyres; also Asaph played loud-sounding cymbals, ⁶ and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests blew trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God.

⁷ Then on that day David ^(B)first assigned ^[b]Asaph and his ^[c]relatives to give thanks to the Lord.

Psalm of Thanksgiving

Then all the people ^(AA)said, “Amen,” and praised the Lord.

Worship before the Ark

³⁷ So he left Asaph and his ^[m]relatives there ^(AB)before the ark of the covenant of the Lord to minister before the ark continually, ^(AC)as every day’s work required; ³⁸ and ^(AD)Obed-edom with ^[n]his 68 relatives; Obed-edom, also the son of Jeduthun, and ^(AE)Hosah as gatekeepers. ³⁹ He left ^(AF)Zadok the priest and his ^[o]relatives the priests ^(AG)before the ^[p]tabernacle of the Lord in the high place which was at Gibeon, ⁴⁰ to offer burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of burnt offering continually morning and evening, ^(AH)even according to all that is written in the law of the Lord, which He commanded Israel. ⁴¹ With them were ^(AI)Heman and Jeduthun, and ^(AJ)the rest who were chosen, who were designated by name, to ^(AK)give thanks to the Lord, because His lovingkindness is everlasting. ⁴² And with them were Heman and Jeduthun with trumpets and cymbals for those who should sound aloud, and with instruments for ^(AL)the songs of God, and the sons of Jeduthun for the gate.

^43 (AM)Then all the people departed each to his house, and David returned to bless his household.

¹⁹ Further, he distributed to all the people, to all the multitude of Israel, both to men and women, a cake of bread and one of dates and one of raisins to each one. Then all the people departed each to his house.

²⁰ But when David returned to bless his household, Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel distinguished himself today! ^(A)He uncovered himself today in the eyes of his servants’ maids as one of the ^(B)foolish ones shamelessly uncovers himself!” ²¹ So David said to Michal, “^(C)It was before the Lord, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel; therefore I will celebrate before the Lord. ²² I will be more lightly esteemed than this and will be humble in my own eyes, but with the maids of whom you have spoken, with them I will be distinguished.” ²³ Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.