Historical

Peril in Transporting the Ark

13 Then David consulted with the captains of the thousands and the hundreds, with every leader. ² David said to all the assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if it is from the Lord our God, ^[a]let us send word everywhere to our kinsmen who remain in all the land of Israel, and to the priests and Levites who are with them in their cities with pasture lands, that they meet with us; ³ and ^[b]let us bring back the ark of our God to us, ^(A)since we did not seek it in the days of Saul.” ⁴ Then all the assembly said that they would do so, for ^[c]this was right in the eyes of all the people.

^5 (B)So David assembled all Israel together, from the Shihor of Egypt to the entrance of Hamath, ^(C)to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim. ^6 (D)David and all Israel went up to ^(E)Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim, which belongs to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, the Lord ^(F)who is enthroned above the cherubim, where His name is called. ⁷ And they ^[d]carried the ark of God on a new cart from ^(G)the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart. ⁸ David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, ^(H)with songs and with lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets.

⁹ When they came to ^(I)the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, because the oxen nearly overturned it. ¹⁰ But the anger of the Lord burned against Uzza, so He struck him ^(J)because he had put out his hand toward the ark; ^(K)and he died there before God. ¹¹ Then David became angry because ^[e]of the Lord’s outburst against Uzza; and he called that place ^[f]Perez-uzza as it is to this day. ¹² David was afraid of God that day, saying, “How can I bring the ark of God home to me?” ¹³ So David did not take the ark with him to the city of David, but took it aside ^(L)to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. ¹⁴ And the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house for three months; and ^(M)the Lord blessed the family of Obed-edom and all that he had.

David’s Family Enlarged

14 ^(N)Now Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David with cedar trees, masons, and carpenters, to build a house for him. ² And David realized that the Lord had established him as king over Israel, and that his kingdom was highly exalted, for the sake of His people Israel.

³ Then David took more wives in Jerusalem, and David fathered more sons and daughters. ^4 (O)These are the names of the children ^[g]born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, ⁵ Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet, ⁶ Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, ⁷ Elishama, Beeliada, and Eliphelet.

Philistines Defeated

⁸ When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up in search of David; and David heard about it and went out against them. ⁹ Now the Philistines had come and ^(P)carried out a raid in the Valley of Rephaim. ¹⁰ David inquired of God, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? And will You hand them over to me?” Then the Lord said to him, “Go up, for I will hand them over to you.” ¹¹ So they came up to Baal-perazim, and David ^[h]defeated them there; and David said, “God has broken through my enemies by my hand, like the breakthrough of waters.” Therefore they named that place ^[i]Baal-perazim. ¹² They abandoned their gods there; so David gave the order and they were burned with fire.

¹³ The Philistines carried out ^(Q)yet another raid in the valley. ¹⁴ David inquired again of God, and God said to him, “You shall not go up after them; circle around ^[j]behind them and come at them in front of the baka-shrubs. ¹⁵ When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the baka-shrubs, then you shall go out to battle, for God will have gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines.” ¹⁶ David did just as God had commanded him, and they defeated the army of the Philistines from ^[k]Gibeon even as far as Gezer. ¹⁷ Then the fame of David spread in all the lands; and ^(R)the Lord brought the fear of him on all the nations.

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 ^(S)pitched a tent for it. ² Then David said, “^(T)No one is to carry the ark of God except the Levites; for the Lord chose them to carry the ark of the Lord and to serve Him forever.” ³ And ^(U)David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord ^(V)to its place which he had prepared for it. ⁴ David gathered together the sons of Aaron and ^(W)the Levites: ⁵ of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, and 120 of his 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 two hundred of his relatives; ⁹ of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief, and eighty of his relatives; ¹⁰ of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, and 112 of his relatives.

¹¹ Then David called for the priests ^(X)Zadok and ^(Y)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; ^(Z)consecrate yourselves, you and your relatives, so that you may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel ^(AA)to the place that I have prepared for it. ^13 (AB)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 (AC)So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁵ The sons of ^(AD)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 ^(AE)to appoint their relatives as the singers, with musical instruments, harps, lyres, and cymbals, playing to raise sounds of joy. ¹⁷ So ^(AF)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, ^[l]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 ^[m](AG)alamoth; ²¹ and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah, to lead with ^[n]lyres tuned to ^(AH)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, ^(AI)blew the trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah also were gatekeepers for the ark.

^25 (AJ)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 ^(AK)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 ^(AL)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. ^(AM)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.

²⁹ When the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the city of David, ^(AN)Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David dancing and celebrating; and she despised him in her heart.