2 Samuel 6:1-11

Holman Christian Standard Bible

David Moves the Ark

6 David again assembled all the choice men in Israel,^(A) 30,000. ² He and all his troops set out^(B) to bring the ark of God from Baale-judah.^[a] The ark is called by the Name, the name of Yahweh of Hosts who dwells between the cherubim.^{(C) 3} They set the ark of God on a new cart and transported it from Abinadab’s house, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio,^[b] sons of Abinadab, were guiding the cart^{(D) 4} and brought it with the ark of God from Abinadab’s house on the hill. Ahio walked in front of the ark. ⁵ David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with all kinds of fir wood instruments,^[c] lyres, harps, tambourines, sistrums,^[d] and cymbals.^(E)

⁶ When they came to Nacon’s threshing floor, Uzzah reached out to the ark of God and took hold of it because the oxen had stumbled. ⁷ Then the Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah,^(F) and God struck him dead on the spot for his irreverence,^(G) and he died there next to the ark of God. ⁸ David was angry because of the Lord’s outburst against Uzzah, so he named that place an Outburst Against Uzzah,^[e] as it is today. ⁹ David feared the Lord that day and said, “How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?” ¹⁰ So he was not willing to move the ark of the Lord to the city of David;^(H) instead, he took it to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. ¹¹ The ark of the Lord remained in his house three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom^(I) and his whole family.