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.

²⁹ It happened when the ark of the covenant of the Lord 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.

Serve God Willingly

5 ^(A)Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your ^(B)fellow elder and ^(C)witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a ^(D)partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, ² shepherd ^(E)the flock of God among you, exercising oversight ^(F)not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and ^(G)not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; ³ nor yet as ^(H)lording it over ^[a]those allotted to your charge, but ^[b]proving to be ^(I)examples to the flock. ⁴ And when the Chief ^(J)Shepherd appears, you will receive the ^(K)unfading ^[c](L)crown of glory. ^5 (M)You younger men, likewise, ^(N)be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with ^(O)humility toward one another, for ^(P)God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

⁶ Therefore ^(Q)humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, ⁷ casting all your ^(R)anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. ^8 (S)Be of sober spirit, ^(T)be on the alert. Your adversary, ^(U)the devil, prowls around like a roaring ^(V)lion, seeking someone to devour. ^9 [d](W)But resist him, ^(X)firm in your faith, knowing that ^(Y)the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your ^[e]brethren who are in the world. ¹⁰ After you have suffered ^(Z)for a little while, the ^(AA)God of all grace, who ^(AB)called you to His ^(AC)eternal glory in Christ, will Himself ^(AD)perfect, ^(AE)confirm, strengthen and establish you. ^11 (AF)To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.

¹² Through ^(AG)Silvanus, our faithful brother ^[f](for so I regard him), ^(AH)I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is ^(AI)the true grace of God. ^(AJ)Stand firm in it! ¹³ She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, and so does my son, ^(AK)Mark. ^14 (AL)Greet one another with a kiss of love.

^(AM)Peace be to you all who are in Christ.