1 Chronicles 15:1-18 ▼

1 Then 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.

2 And 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.”

3 Then David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of Yahweh to its place which he had prepared for it.

4 And David gathered together the sons of Aaron and the Levites:

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

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 Zadok and Abiathar 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; 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.

13 Because 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.”

14 So the priests and the Levites set themselves apart as holy to bring up the ark of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

15 And 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.

16 Then 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.

17 So 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,

18 and 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.