1Ch 13 | EE | STEP | David talked with all his officers. They were the leaders of his army. Some officers were the leaders of 1000 men. Other officers were the leaders of 100 men.

1 Chronicles 13

David starts to bring the Covenant Box to Jerusalem

1 David talked with all his officers. They were the leaders of his army. Some officers were the leaders of 1000 men. Other officers were the leaders of 100 men. 2 Then David spoke to all the Israelites who were present. ‘I want to suggest something. Perhaps you will agree. And perhaps the LORD our God wants us to do this. I think that we should send a message to all the other Israelites. That should include the priests and the Levites who live in their towns and on their land. We should send the message across the whole country. We should ask all those people to come here to meet us. 3 Then we should bring back the Covenant Box of our God. We did not use it to ask God about things while Saul was king.’ 4 They all thought that it was the right thing to do. So all the people agreed that they should do that.

5 So, David told all the Israelites that they should come. They came from the River Shihor in Egypt. They came from Lebo-Hamath. And they came from everywhere between those two places. They came to bring God’s Covenant Box. It was in the town called Kiriath-Jearim. 6 David and all the Israelites with him went there. They went to Baalah in Judah. (Baalah is also called Kiriath-Jearim.) They went to fetch the LORD God’s Covenant Box. The LORD has his throne between the cherubs. They are on the Box, which has his name. ^{▼▼13:6 Kiriath-Jearim was about 8 miles west of Jerusalem. It was on the border between the tribes of Benjamin and Judah.}

7 The people took God’s Covenant Box from Abinadab’s house. They put it on a new cart. Uzzah and Ahio were leading the cart. 8 David and all the Israelites were very happy in front of God. They danced. They could not have danced any better. They sang songs. And they used lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals and trumpets to make music.

9 They reached a certain place. That place was Chidon’s threshing-floor. Oxen were pulling the cart. But the oxen had difficulty there, because the yard was not flat. Uzzah thought that the Covenant Box might fall. So he put his hand on it. 10 The LORD was angry with Uzzah because he had touched the Covenant Box. So the LORD hit Uzzah and Uzzah died there in front of God.

11 David was angry because the LORD punished Uzzah. And David called that place Perez-Uzzah. Even today, people still call that place Perez-Uzzah. ^{▼▼13:11 Perez-Uzzah means ‘punished Uzzah’.}

12 David was afraid of God that day. He said, ‘I do not know how I can bring God’s Covenant Box to me.’ 13 So, David did not bring the Covenant Box to where he was. He did not bring it into David’s city. Instead, he took it to Obed-Edom’s house. Obed-Edom lived in the town called Gath. 14 God’s Covenant Box stayed there. Obed-Edom’s family had it in their house and it stayed there for three months. During that time, the LORD was kind to Obed-Edom’s family. And the LORD did good things for everything that Obed-Edom had.