1 Chronicles 15

The Ark Brought to Jerusalem

1David
Hebrew He
built houses for himself in the city of David. And he prepared a place for the ark of God and bpitched a tent for it.
2Then David said that no one but the Levites may carry cthe ark of God, for the Lord had chosen them to carry the ark of the Lord and to minister to him forever. 3 dAnd David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord eto its place, which he had prepared for it. 4And David gathered together the sons of Aaron and fthe Levites: 5of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, with 120 of his brothers; 6of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, with 220 of his brothers; 7of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, with 130 of his brothers; 8of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, with 200 of his brothers; 9of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief, with 80 of his brothers; 10of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, with 112 of his brothers. 11Then David summoned the priests gZadok and hAbiathar, and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab, 12and said to them, “You are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites. iConsecrate yourselves, you and your brothers, so that you may bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, jto the place that I have prepared for it. 13 kBecause you did not carry it the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not seek him according to the rule.” 14So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel. 15And the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders lwith the poles, mas Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord.

16David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brothers as the singers who should play loudly on nmusical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals, to raise sounds of joy. 17So the Levites appointed oHeman the son of Joel; and of his brothers pAsaph the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari, their brothers, qEthan the son of Kushaiah; 18and with them their brothers of the second order, Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and the gatekeepers Obed-edom and Jeiel. 19The singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were to sound bronze cymbals; 20Zechariah, rAziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah were to play harps according to sAlamoth; 21but Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, tObed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were to lead with lyres according to uthe Sheminith. 22Chenaniah, leader of the Levites in music, should direct the music, for he understood it. 23Berechiah and Elkanah were to be gatekeepers for the ark. 24Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, should vblow the trumpets before the ark of God. wObed-edom and Jehiah were to be gatekeepers for the ark.

25 xSo David and the elders of Israel and the commanders of thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the house of yObed-edom with rejoicing. 26And because God helped the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, they sacrificed zseven bulls and seven rams. 27David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as also were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and the singers and Chenaniah the leader of the music of the singers. And David wore a linen ephod. 28So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, to the sound of the horn, aatrumpets, and cymbals, and made loud music on abharps and lyres.

29And as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David dancing and celebrating, and she despised him in her heart.

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