1 Chronicles - The Old Testament

¹ After he had put up buildings for himself in the City of David, he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it.

² David then said, 'No one but the Levites should carry the ark of God, since Yahweh has chosen them to carry the ark of Yahweh and to minister to him for ever.'

³ David then summoned all Israel to Jerusalem, to move the ark of Yahweh to the place which he had prepared for it.

⁴ David also called the sons of Aaron and the Levites together:

⁵ of the sons of Kohath: Uriel the chief and his hundred and twenty kinsmen;

⁶ of the sons of Merari: Asaiah the chief and his two hundred and twenty kinsmen;

⁷ of the sons of Gershom: Joel the chief and his hundred and thirty kinsmen;

⁸ of the sons of Elizaphan: Shemaiah the chief and his two hundred kinsmen;

⁹ of the sons of Hebron: Eliel the chief and eighty kinsmen;

¹⁰ of the sons of Uzziel: Amminadab the chief and his hundred and twelve kinsmen.

¹¹ David then sent for the priests Zadok and Abiathar, and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel and Amminadab.

¹² To them he said, 'You are the heads of the levitical families. Sanctify yourselves, you and your kinsmen, so that you can move the ark of Yahweh, God of Israel, to the place which I have prepared for it.

¹³ Because you were not there the first time, Yahweh our God broke out at us because we did not handle it properly.'

¹⁴ So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves, to move the ark of Yahweh, God of Israel,

¹⁵ and the Levites carried the ark of God with the shafts on their shoulders, as Moses had ordered in accordance with the word of Yahweh.

¹⁶ David also told the heads of the Levites to appoint their kinsmen as singers with the accompaniment of musical instruments, lyres, harps, and cymbals to play joyfully.

¹⁷ The Levites then appointed Heman son of Joel, Asaph son of Berechiah, one of his brothers, Ethan son of Kushaiah, one of their Merarite kinsmen;

¹⁸ and with them their kinsmen of the second rank: Zechariah, Uzziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, and Obed-Edom and Jehiel the gatekeepers.

¹⁹ The singers, Heman, Asaph and Ethan, were to play the bronze cymbals.

²⁰ Zechariah, Uzziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah and Benaiah were to play the lyre.

²¹ Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jehiel and Azaziah, giving the beat, were to play the harp.

²² Chenaniah, the levitical director of transport was in charge of the transport, being skilful at it.

²³ Berechiah and Elkanah were gatekeepers for the ark.

²⁴ The priests Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah and Eliezer blew trumpets before the ark of God, while Obed-Edom and Jehiah were also gatekeepers for the ark.

²⁵ David, the elders of Israel and the commanders of the thousands accordingly went, amid great rejoicing, to bring the ark of the covenant of Yahweh up from Obed-Edom's house,

²⁶ and since God was helping the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.

²⁷ David, all the Levites who carried the ark, the singers and Chenaniah, director of transport, wore cloaks of fine linen. David also wore a linen ephod.

²⁸ Thus, with war-cries and the sounding of the horn, the trumpets and the cymbals, and the music of lyres and harps, all Israel transported the ark of the covenant of Yahweh.

²⁹ Now, as the ark of the covenant of Yahweh entered the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul was watching from the window and, when she saw King David dancing and playing, the sight of him filled her with contempt.