1 Now David built houses for himself in the city of David; and he prepared a place for the ark of God and A1 Chr 15:3; 16:1; 17:1-5pitched a tent for it. 2 Then David said, “ANum 4:15; Deut 10:8No one is to carry the ark of God but the Levites; for the Loʀᴅ chose them to carry the ark of God and to minister to Him forever.” 3 And A1 Kin 8:1; 1 Chr 13:5David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Loʀᴅ BEx 40:20f; 2 Sam 6:12, 17; 1 Chr 15:1, 12to its place which he had prepared for it. 4 David gathered together the sons of Aaron and A1 Chr 6:16-30; 12:26the Levites: 5 of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, and 120 of his 1Lit brothers; i.e. fellow tribesmen, and so throughout the chrelatives; 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 200 of his relatives; 9 of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief, and 80 of his relatives; 10 of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, and 112 of his relatives.

11 Then David called for A1 Chr 12:28Zadok and B1 Sam 22:20-23; 1 Kin 2:26, 35Abiathar 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; AEx 19:14, 15; 2 Chr 35:6consecrate yourselves both you and your relatives, that you may bring up the ark of the Loʀᴅ God of Israel B1 Chr 15:1, 3to the place that I have prepared for it. 13  “A2 Sam 6:3; 1 Chr 13:7Because you did not carry it at the first, the Loʀᴅ our God made an outburst on us, for we did not seek Him according to the ordinance.” 14 A1 Chr 15:12So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the Loʀᴅ God of Israel. 15 The sons of AEx 25:14; Num 4:5fthe Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles thereon, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Loʀᴅ.

16 Then David spoke to the chiefs of the Levites A1 Chr 13:8; 25:1to appoint their relatives the singers, with instruments of music, harps, lyres, loud-sounding cymbals, to raise sounds of joy. 17 So A1 Chr 25:1the 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, 1Omitted in Gr and many mssBen, 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 1Or harps of maiden-like toneharps tuned to APs 46: titlealamoth; 21 and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel and Azaziah, to lead with 1Or octave harpslyres tuned to APs 6: titlethe 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, A1 Chr 15:28; 16:6blew the trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah also were gatekeepers for the ark.

25 A2 Sam 6:12, 15So it was David, with the elders of Israel and the captains over thousands, who went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Loʀᴅ from B1 Chr 13:13the house of Obed-edom with joy. 26 Because God was helping the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Loʀᴅ, they sacrificed ANum 23:1-4, 29seven 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. A2 Sam 6:14David also wore an ephod of linen. 28 Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Loʀᴅ with shouting, and with sound of the horn, with trumpets, with loud-sounding cymbals, with harps and lyres.

29 It happened when the ark of the covenant of the Loʀᴅ came to the city of David, that A2 Sam 3:13f; 6:16Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and celebrating; and she despised him in her heart.