23 And these are the numbers of the chiefs of those prepared for the army who came to David at Hebron to turn the kingdom of Saul over to him according to the word of Yahweh. 24 The sons of Judah bearing shield and spear: six thousand eight hundred armed troops. 25 From the men of Simeon, mighty warriors of strength for war: seven thousand one hundred. 26 From the Levites: four thousand six hundred. 27 Jehoiada the chief officer of the house of Aaron, and with him, three thousand seven hundred. 28 And Zadok, a young man, a mighty warrior of strength, and the house of his father: twenty-two commanders. 29 From the men of Benjamin, kinsmen of Saul, three thousand, and ⌊even still⌋i the majority of them ⌊remained loyal⌋j to the house of Saul. 30 And from the men of Ephraim: twenty thousand eight hundred mighty warriors of strength, famous men in the house of their fathers. 31 And from the half-tribe of Manasseh: eighteen thousand who were designated by name to come to make David king. 32 And from the men of Issachar: ⌊men who were skilled in understanding the times⌋k to know what Israel should do. Their chiefs were two hundred, and all their kinsmen were under their command. 33 From Zebulun, those who went out armed, equipped for battle with all the weapons of war: fifty thousand to help David ⌊with singleness of purpose⌋.l 34 From Naphtali: one thousand commanders; and those with them with shield and spear: thirty-seven thousand. 35 From the Danites, those equipped for battle: twenty-eight thousand six hundred. 36 And from Asher, those who went out armed and prepared for battle: forty thousand. 37 And from beyond the Jordan, from the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, with all their weapons of war for battle: one hundred and twenty thousand. 38 All these were men of war arrayed in battle line ⌊with a whole heart⌋.m They came to Hebron to make David king over all Israel. Likewise, all the rest of Israel had one heart to make David king. 39 And they were there with David three days, eating and drinking, for their kinsmen were prepared for them. 40 And also their relatives, as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought food on donkeys, on camels, on mules, and on oxen—provisions of flour, cakes of figs, raisin cakes, wine and oil, cattle and sheep in abundance, for there was great joy in Israel.

The Ark of the Covenant Brought from Kiriath-Jearim

13 And David consulted with the commanders of thousands and hundreds, with every leader. 2 And David said to all the assembly of Israel, “⌊If it seems good to you⌋a and before Yahweh our God, ⌊let us send word abroad⌋b to our brothers who remain in all the land of Israel and to the priests and Levites with them in the cities with their pasturelands that they might be gathered to us. 3 Then let us bring around the ark of our God to us, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul.” 4 And all the assembly agreed to do so, for the word was pleasing in the eyes of all the people.

5 And David summoned all Israel from Shihor of Egypt up to Lebo-Hamath to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-Jearim. 6 And David and all Israel went up to Baalah, Kiriath-Jearim of Judah, to bring up from there the ark of Yahweh God who is enthroned between the cherubim, which is called the name. 7 And they carried the ark of God upon a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio were driving the cart.

8 Now David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their strength, and with songs, lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets. 9 And when they came to the threshing floor of Kidon, Uzza reached out his hand to hold the ark because the cattle had stumbled. 10 And Yahweh ⌊was angry⌋c with Uzza, and he struck him down because he reached his hand upon the ark. And he died there before God. 11 And David ⌊was angry⌋d because Yahweh had broken out in wrath against Uzza. And that place is called Perez Uzza unto this day. 12 And David feared God on that day, saying, “How can I bring the ark of God home to me?” 13 So David did not move the ark to himself into the city of David but diverted it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 14 And the ark of God remained with the household of Obed-Edom in his house three months. And Yahweh blessed the household of Obed-Edom and all that he had.