Study Desk

Now David built houses for himself in the city of David; and he prepared a place for the ark of God and ^(C1)pitched a tent for it.

Then David said, "^(C1)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."

And ^(C1)David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the LORD ^(C2)to its place which he had prepared for it.

David gathered together the sons of Aaron and ^(C1)the Levites:

of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, and 120 of his relatives;

of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, and 220 of his relatives;

of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, and 130 of his relatives;

of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, and two hundred of his relatives;

of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief, and eighty of his relatives;

of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, and 112 of his relatives.

Then David called for the priests ^(C1)Zadok and ^(C2)Abiathar, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab;

and he said to them, "You are the heads of the fathers' households of the Levites; ^(C1)consecrate yourselves, you and your relatives, so that you may bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel ^(C2)to the place that I have prepared for it.

"^(C1)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."

^(C1)So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel.

The sons of ^(C1)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.

Then David spoke to the chiefs of the Levites ^(C1)to appoint their relatives as the singers, with musical instruments, harps, lyres, and cymbals, playing to raise sounds of joy.

So ^(C1)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,

and with them their relatives of the second rank, Zechariah, ^(F1)Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel, the gatekeepers.

So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were appointed to sound aloud cymbals of bronze;

and Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with harps tuned to ^(F1)alamoth;

and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah, to lead with lyres tuned to ^(F1)the sheminith.

Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was in charge of the singing; he gave instruction in singing because he was skillful.

Berechiah and Elkanah were gatekeepers for the ark.

Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, ^(C1)blew the trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah also were gatekeepers for the ark.

^(C1)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 ^(C2)the house of Obed-edom with joy.

Because God was helping the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD, they sacrificed ^(C1)seven bulls and seven rams.

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. ^(C1)David also wore an ephod of linen.

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.

When the ark of the covenant of the LORD came to the city of David, ^(C1)Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David dancing and celebrating; and she despised him in her heart.

And they brought in the ark of God and ^(C1)placed it inside the tent which David had pitched for it, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God.

When David had finished offering the burnt offering and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD.

Then he distributed to everyone of Israel, both men and women, to everyone a loaf of bread, a portion of meat, and a raisin cake.

He appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the LORD, to celebrate and to thank and praise the LORD God of Israel:

Asaph the chief, and second to him Zechariah, then ^(F1)Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel, with musical instruments, harps, and lyres; also Asaph played loud-sounding cymbals,

and the priests Benaiah and Jahaziel blew trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God.