2 Samuel 6–7

The Covenant Box Is Brought to Jerusalem

6Once more David called together the best soldiers in Israel, a total of 30,000 men, ^2*and led them to Baalah^h in Judah, in order to bring from there God’s Covenant Box, bearing the name of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned above the winged creatures.^{i 3*}They took it from Abinadab’s home on the hill and placed it on a new cart. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the cart, ⁴with Ahio walking in front. ⁵David and all the Israelites were dancing and singing with all their might^j to honour the Lord. They were playing harps, lyres, drums, rattles, and cymbals.

⁶As they came to the threshing place of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out and took hold of the Covenant Box. ⁷At once the Lord God became angry with Uzzah and killed him because of his irreverence.^k Uzzah died there beside the Covenant Box, ⁸and so that place has been called Perez Uzzah^l ever since. David was furious because the Lord had punished Uzzah in anger.

⁹Then David was afraid of the Lord and said, “How can I take the Covenant Box with me now?” ¹⁰So he decided not to take it with him to Jerusalem; instead, he turned off the road and took it to the house of Obed Edom, a native of the city of Gath. ^11*It stayed there three months, and the Lord blessed Obed Edom and his family.

¹²King David heard that because of the Covenant Box the Lord had blessed Obed Edom’s family and all that he had; so he fetched the Covenant Box from Obed’s house to take it to Jerusalem with a great celebration. ¹³After the men carrying the Covenant Box had gone six steps, David made them stop while he offered the Lord a sacrifice of a bull and a fattened calf. ¹⁴David, wearing only a linen cloth round his waist, danced with all his might to honour the Lord. ¹⁵And so he and all the Israelites took the Covenant Box up to Jerusalem with shouts of joy and the sound of trumpets.

¹⁶As the Box was being brought into the city, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked out of the window and saw King David dancing and jumping around in the sacred dance, and she was disgusted with him. ¹⁷They brought the Box and put it in its place in the Tent that David had set up for it. Then he offered sacrifices and fellowship offerings to the Lord. ¹⁸When he had finished offering the sacrifices, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty ^19*and distributed food to them all. He gave each man and woman in Israel a loaf of bread, a piece of roasted meat,^m and some raisins. Then everyone went home.

^20*Afterwards, when David went home to greet his family, Michal came out to meet him. “The king of Israel made a big name for himself today!” she said. “He exposed himself like a fool in the sight of the servant women of his officials!”

²¹David answered, “I was dancing to honour the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and his family to make me the leader of his people Israel. And I will go on dancing to honour the Lord, ²²and will disgrace myself even more. Youⁿ may think I am nothing, but those women will think highly of me!”

²³Michal, Saul’s daughter, never had any children.

Nathan’s Message to David

7King David was settled in his palace, and the Lord kept him safe from all his enemies. ²Then the king said to the prophet Nathan, “Here I am living in a house built of cedar, but God’s Covenant Box is kept in a tent!”

³Nathan answered, “Do whatever you have in mind, because the Lord is with you.” ⁴But that night the Lord said to Nathan, ⁵“Go and tell my servant David that I say to him, ‘You are not the one to build a temple for me to live in. ⁶From the time I rescued the people of Israel from Egypt until now, I have never lived in a temple; I have travelled round living in a tent. ⁷In all my travelling with the people of Israel I never asked any of the leaders^o that I appointed why they had not built me a temple made of cedar.’

⁸“So tell my servant David that I, the Lord Almighty, say to him, ‘I took you from looking after sheep in the fields and made you the ruler of my people Israel. ⁹I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have defeated all your enemies as you advanced. I will make you as famous as the greatest leaders in the world. ^10–11I have chosen a place for my people Israel and have settled them there, where they will live without being oppressed any more. Ever since they entered this land, they have been attacked by violent people, but this will not happen again. I promise to keep you safe from all your enemies and to give you descendants. ^12*When you die and are buried with your ancestors, I will make one of your sons king and will keep his kingdom strong. ¹³He will be the one to build a temple for me, and I will make sure that his dynasty continues for ever. ^14*I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him as a father punishes his son. ¹⁵But I will not withdraw my support from him as I did from Saul, whom I removed so that you could be king. ^16*You will always have descendants, and I will make your kingdom last for ever. Your dynasty will never end.’ ”

¹⁷Nathan told David everything that God had revealed to him.

David’s Prayer of Thanksgiving

¹⁸Then King David went into the Tent of the Lord’s presence, sat down and prayed, “I am not worthy of what you have already done for me, Sovereign Lord, nor is my family. ¹⁹Yet now you are doing even more, Sovereign Lord; you have made promises about my descendants in the years to come. And you let a man see this,^p Sovereign Lord! ²⁰What more can I say to you! You know me, your servant. ²¹It was your will and purpose to do this; you have done all these great things in order to teach me. ²²How great you are, Sovereign Lord! There is none like you; we have always known that you alone are God. ^23*There is no other nation on earth like Israel, whom you rescued from slavery to make them your own people. The great and wonderful things you did for them^q have spread your fame throughout the world. You drove out^r other nations and their gods as your people advanced, the people whom you set free from Egypt to be your own. ²⁴You have made Israel your own people for ever, and you, Lord, have become their God.

²⁵“And now, Lord God, fulfil for all time the promise you made about me and my descendants, and do what you said you would. ²⁶Your fame will be great, and people will for ever say, ‘The Lord Almighty is God over Israel.’ And you will preserve my dynasty for all time. ²⁷Almighty Lord, God of Israel! I have the courage to pray this prayer to you, because you have revealed all this to me, your servant, and have told me that you will make my descendants kings.

²⁸“And now, Sovereign Lord, you are God; you always keep your promises, and you have made this wonderful promise to me. ²⁹I ask you to bless my descendants so that they will continue to enjoy your favour. You, Sovereign Lord, have promised this, and your blessing will rest on my descendants for ever.”