²⁴ Meanwhile, Zadok showed up also, along with all of the descendants of Levi with him, carrying the Ark of the Covenant of God. They set down the Ark of God and Abiathar approached while all the people finished abandoning the city. ²⁵ The king told Zadok, “Take the Ark of God back to the city. If I’m shown favor in the Lord’s sight, then he’ll bring me back again and show me both it and the place where it rests.^{[a] 26} But if he should say something like ‘I’m not pleased with you,’ well then, here I am—let him do to me whatever seems right to him.”

²⁷ The king also asked Zadok the priest, “Aren’t you a seer, too? Go back to the city in comfort, along with your son Ahimaaz and Abiathar’s son Jonathan. ²⁸ Look! I’ll camp at the wilderness fords until you send word to inform me.”

²⁹ So Zadok and Abiathar returned the Ark of God to Jerusalem and remained there.