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David Gets Ready To Bring the Sacred Chest to Jerusalem

¹ David had several buildings built in Jerusalem, and he had a tent set up where the sacred chest would be kept. ² He said, "Only Levites will be allowed to carry the chest, because the Lord has chosen them to do that work and to serve him forever."

³ Next, David invited everyone to come to Jerusalem and watch the sacred chest being carried to the place he had set up for it. ⁴ He also sent for Aaron's descendants and for the Levites. The Levites that came were: ⁵ Uriel, the leader of the Kohath clan, and one hundred twenty of his relatives; ⁶ Asaiah, the leader of the Merari clan, and two hundred twenty of his relatives; ⁷ Joel, the leader of the Gershon clan, and one hundred thirty of his relatives; ⁸ Shemaiah, the leader of the Elizaphan clan, and two hundred of his relatives; ⁹ Eliel, the leader of the Hebron clan, and eighty of his relatives; and ¹⁰ Amminadab, the leader of the Uzziel clan, with one hundred twelve of his relatives.

¹¹ David called together these six Levites and the two priests, Zadok and Abiathar. ¹² He said to them, "You are the leaders of the clans in the Levi tribe. You and your relatives must first go through the ceremony to make yourselves clean and acceptable to the Lord. Then you may carry the sacred chest that belongs to the Lord God of Israel and bring it to the place I have prepared for it. ¹³ The first time we tried to bring the chest to Jerusalem, we didn't ask the Lord what he wanted us to do. He was angry at us, because you Levites weren't there to carry the chest."

¹⁴ The priests and the Levites made themselves clean. They were now ready to carry the sacred chest ¹⁵ on poles that rested on their shoulders, just as the Lord had told Moses to do.

¹⁶ David then told the leaders to choose some Levites to sing and play music on small harps, other stringed instruments, and cymbals. ^17-21 The men chosen to play the cymbals were Heman the son of Joel, his relative Asaph the son of Berechiah, and Ethan the son of Kushaiah from the Merari clan. Some of their assistants played the smaller harps: they were Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah. Others played the larger harps: they were Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Azaziah, and two of the temple guards, Obed-Edom and Jeiel.

²² Chenaniah was chosen to be the music director, because he was a skilled musician.^23-24 Four Levites were then appointed to guard the sacred chest. They were Berechiah, Elkanah, Obed-Edom, and Jehiah.

Finally, David chose priests to walk in front of the sacred chest and blow trumpets. They were Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer.

The Sacred Chest Is Brought to Jerusalem

²⁵ David, the leaders of Israel, and the army commanders were very happy as they went to Obed-Edom's house to get the sacred chest. ²⁶ God gave the Levites the strength they needed to carry the chest, and so they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.

²⁷ David, the Levites, Chenaniah the music director, and all the musicians were wearing linen robes, and David was also wearing a linen cloth.^{[a] 28} While the sacred chest was being carried into Jerusalem, everyone was celebrating by shouting and playing music on horns, trumpets, cymbals, harps, and other stringed instruments.

²⁹ Saul's daughter Michal^[b] looked out her window and watched the chest being brought into David's City. But when she saw David jumping and dancing in honor of the Lord, she was disgusted.