The Ark Is Brought to Jerusalem

1Then David made houses for himself in the city of David; and he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it. 2And David said, “No one is to carry the ark of God but the Levites; for Yahweh chose them to carry the ark of [†]God and to minister to Him forever.” 3Then David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of Yahweh to its place which he had prepared for it. 4And David gathered together the sons of Aaron and the Levites: 5of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, and 120 of his [†]relatives; 6of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, and 220 of his relatives; 7of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, and 130 of his relatives; 8of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, and 200 of his relatives; 9of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief, and 80 of his relatives; 10of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, and 112 of his relatives.

11Then David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel and Amminadab, 12and said to them, “You are the heads of the fathers’ households of the Levites; set yourselves apart as holy, both you and your relatives, that you may bring up the ark of Yahweh, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it. 13Because 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.” 14So the priests and the Levites set themselves apart as holy to bring up the ark of Yahweh, the God of Israel. 15And the sons of the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles thereon, as Moses had commanded according to the word of Yahweh.

16Then David said to the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their relatives the singers, with instruments of music, harps, lyres, loud-sounding cymbals, to raise a sound of gladness. 17So 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, 18and with them their relatives of the second rank, Zechariah, [†]Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel, the gatekeepers. 19So the singers, Heman, Asaph and Ethan were appointed to sound aloud cymbals of bronze; 20and Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with [†]harps set according to alamoth; 21and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah, to lead with [†]lyres set according to the sheminith. 22Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was in charge of the [†]singing; he gave instruction in singing because he had understanding. 23Berechiah and Elkanah were gatekeepers for the ark. 24Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah and Eliezer, the priests, blew the trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah also were gatekeepers for the ark.

25So 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 the house of Obed-edom with gladness. 26Now this happened because God was helping the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. And they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams. 27Now 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. David also wore a linen ephod. 28Thus all Israel was bringing up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh with shouting, and with sound of the [†]horn, with trumpets, with loud-sounding cymbals, with harps, and lyres.

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