Historical

Uzza Dies from Touching the Ark

13 Then David took counsel with the commanders of the thousands and the hundreds, even with every leader. ² And David said to all the assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if it is from Yahweh our God, let us send everywhere to our relatives who remain in all the lands of Israel, also to the priests and Levites who are with them in their cities with pasture lands, that they may gather with us; ³ and let us bring back the ark of our God to us, ^(A)for we did not seek it in the days of Saul.” ⁴ Then all the assembly said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.

^5 (B)So David assembled all Israel together, from the Shihor of Egypt even to ^[a]Lebo-hamath, ^(C)to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim. ^6 (D)And 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, Yahweh, ^(F)who is enthroned above the cherubim, where His name is called. ⁷ And they drove the ark of God on a new cart from ^(G)the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio were leading the cart. ⁸ Now David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their strength, ^(H)even with songs and with lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals, and with trumpets.

⁹ Then they came to ^(I)the threshing floor of Chidon. And Uzza reached out with his hand to take hold of the ark, because the oxen nearly upset it. ¹⁰ And the anger of Yahweh burned against Uzza, and He struck him down ^(J)because he reached out with his hand to the ark; ^(K)and he died there before God. ¹¹ And David became angry because ^[b]of Yahweh’s breaking out against Uzza; and that place is called ^[c]Perez-uzza to this day. ¹² So David was afraid of God that day, saying, “How can I bring the ark of God back to me?” ¹³ And David did not move the ark with him to the city of David, but took it aside ^(L)to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. ¹⁴ Thus the ark of God remained with the household of Obed-edom in his house three months; and ^(M)Yahweh blessed the household of Obed-edom with all that he had.

David Takes More Wives

14 ^(N)Then Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David with cedar trees and craftsmen of walls and craftsmen of wood, to build a house for him. ² Thus David knew that Yahweh had established him as king over Israel, and that his kingdom was lifted up, for the sake of His people Israel.

³ Then David took more wives at Jerusalem, and David ^[d]became the father of more sons and daughters. ^4 (O)These are the names of the children ^[e]born to him in Jerusalem:

David Strikes Down the Philistines

⁸ Then the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, so all the Philistines went up to seek out David. And David heard of it and went out against them. ⁹ Now the Philistines had come and ^(P)made a raid in the valley of Rephaim. ¹⁰ Then David asked of God, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? And will You give them into my hand?” And Yahweh said to him, “Go up, for I will give them into your hand.” ¹¹ So they came up to ^[f]Baal-perazim, and there David struck them down; and David said, “God has broken through my enemies by my hand, like the breakthrough of waters.” Therefore they named that place ^[g]Baal-perazim. ¹² And they forsook their gods there; so David said the word, and they were burned with fire.

¹³ Then the Philistines ^(Q)yet again made a raid in the valley. ¹⁴ So David again asked of God, and God said to him, “You shall not go directly up after them; circle around from ^[h]behind them and come at them in front of the ^[i]balsam trees. ¹⁵ And it will be that when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the ^[j]balsam trees, then you shall go out to battle, for God will have gone out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.” ¹⁶ Then David did just as God had commanded him, and they struck down the camp of the Philistines from ^[k]Gibeon even as far as Gezer. ¹⁷ Then the name of David went out into all the lands; and ^(R)Yahweh brought the dread of him on all the nations.

The Ark Is Brought to Jerusalem

15 Then David made 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 And David said, “^(T)No one is to carry the ark of God but the Levites; for Yahweh chose them to carry the ark of ^[l]God and to minister to Him forever.” ³ Then ^(U)David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of Yahweh ^(V)to its place which he had prepared for it. ⁴ And David gathered together the sons of Aaron and ^(W)the Levites:

¹¹ Then David called for ^(X)Zadok and ^(Y)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; ^(Z)set yourselves apart as holy, both you and your relatives, that you may bring up the ark of Yahweh, the God of Israel, ^(AA)to the place that I have prepared for it. ^13 (AB)Because you did not carry it at the first, Yahweh our God broke out against us, for we did not seek Him according to the legal judgment.” ^14 (AC)So the priests and the Levites set themselves apart as holy to bring up the ark of Yahweh, the God of Israel. ¹⁵ And the sons of ^(AD)the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles thereon, as Moses had commanded according to the word of Yahweh.

¹⁶ Then David said to the chiefs of the Levites ^(AE)to appoint their relatives the singers, with instruments of music, harps, lyres, loud-sounding cymbals, to raise a sound of gladness. 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, ^[n]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 ^[o]harps set according to ^(AG)alamoth; ²¹ and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah, to lead with ^[p]lyres set according to ^(AH)the sheminith. ²² Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was in charge of the ^[q]singing; he gave instruction in singing because he had understanding. 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 commanders over thousands, who went to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh from ^(AK)the house of Obed-edom with gladness. ²⁶ Now this happened because God was helping the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. And 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, as well as the singers and Chenaniah the leader of the singing with the singers. ^(AM)David also wore a linen ephod. ²⁸ Thus all Israel was bringing up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh with shouting, and with sound of the ^[r]horn, with trumpets, with loud-sounding cymbals, with harps, and lyres.

²⁹ Now it happened as the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came to the city of David, that ^(AN)Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and celebrating; and she despised him in her heart.