1 Chronicles 15–16

Chapter 15

Plans to Move the Ark to Jerusalem

¹Now David built houses for himself in the city of David; and he prepared a place for the ark of God and ^apitched a tent for it.

²Then David said, “^aNo one is to carry the ark of God but the Levites; for the Lord chose them to carry the ark of God and to minister to Him forever.”

³And ^aDavid assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord ^bto its place which he had prepared for it.

⁴David gathered together the sons of Aaron and ^athe Levites:

⁵of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, and 120 of his ¹relatives;

⁶of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, and 220 of his relatives;

⁷of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, and 130 of his relatives;

⁸of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, and 200 of his relatives;

⁹of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief, and 80 of his relatives;

¹⁰of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, and 112 of his relatives.

¹¹Then David called for ^aZadok and ^bAbiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel and Amminadab,

¹²and said to them, “You are the heads of the fathers’ households of the Levites; ^aconsecrate yourselves both you and your relatives, that you may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel ^bto the place that I have prepared for it.

¹³“^aBecause you did not carry it at the first, the Lord our God made an outburst on us, for we did not seek Him according to the ordinance.”

^14aSo the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel.

¹⁵The sons of ^athe Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles thereon, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord.

¹⁶Then David spoke to the chiefs of the Levites ^ato appoint their relatives the singers, with instruments of music, harps, lyres, loud-sounding cymbals, to raise sounds of joy.

¹⁷So ^athe 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,

¹⁸and with them their relatives of the second rank, Zechariah, ¹Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom and Jeiel, the gatekeepers.

¹⁹So the singers, Heman, Asaph and Ethan were appointed to sound aloud cymbals of bronze;

²⁰and Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah and Benaiah, with ¹harps tuned to ^aalamoth;

²¹and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel and Azaziah, to lead with ¹lyres tuned to ^athe sheminith.

²²Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was in charge of the singing; he gave instruction in singing because he was skillful.

²³Berechiah and Elkanah were gatekeepers for the ark.

²⁴Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah and Eliezer, the priests, ^ablew the trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah also were gatekeepers for the ark.

^25aSo it was David, with the elders of Israel and the captains over thousands, who went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from ^bthe house of Obed-edom with joy.

²⁶Because God was helping the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, they sacrificed ^aseven bulls and seven rams.

²⁷Now David was clothed with a robe of fine linen with all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and the singers and Chenaniah the leader of the singing with the singers. ^aDavid also wore an ephod of linen.

²⁸Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, and with sound of the horn, with trumpets, with loud-sounding cymbals, with harps and lyres.

²⁹It happened when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the city of David, that ^aMichal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and celebrating; and she despised him in her heart.

Chapter 16

A Tent for the Ark

¹And they brought in the ark of God and ^aplaced it inside the tent which David had pitched for it, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God.

²When David had finished offering the burnt offering and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord.

³He distributed to everyone of Israel, both man and woman, to everyone a loaf of bread and a portion of meat and a raisin cake.

⁴He appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the Lord, even to celebrate and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel:

⁵Asaph the chief, and second to him Zechariah, then ¹Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom and Jeiel, with musical instruments, harps, lyres; also Asaph played loud-sounding cymbals,

⁶and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests blew trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God.

⁷Then on that day David ^afirst assigned ¹Asaph and his ²relatives to give thanks to the Lord.

Psalm of Thanksgiving

^8aOh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name;

^bMake known His deeds among the peoples.

⁹Sing to Him, sing praises to Him;

¹Speak of all His ²wonders.

¹⁰¹Glory in His holy name;

Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad.

^11aSeek the Lord and His strength;

Seek His face continually.

^12aRemember His wonderful deeds which He has done,

^bHis marvels and the judgments from His mouth,

¹³O seed of Israel His servant,

Sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!

¹⁴He is the Lord our God;

^aHis judgments are in all the earth.

¹⁵Remember His covenant forever,

The word which He commanded to a thousand generations,

^16aThe covenant which He made with Abraham,

And His oath to Isaac.

^17aHe also confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,

To Israel as an everlasting covenant,

¹⁸Saying, “^aTo you I will give the land of Canaan,

As the portion of your inheritance.”

^19aWhen they were only a few in number,

Very few, and strangers in it,

²⁰And they wandered about from nation to nation,

And from one kingdom to another people,

²¹He permitted no man to oppress them,

And ^aHe reproved kings for their sakes, saying,

²²“Do not touch My anointed ones,

And ^ado My prophets no harm.”

^23aSing to the Lord, all the earth;

Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day.

²⁴Tell of His glory among the nations,

His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.

²⁵For ^agreat is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;

He also is ^bto be feared above all gods.

²⁶For all the gods of the peoples are ^1aidols,

^bBut the Lord made the heavens.

²⁷Splendor and majesty are before Him,

Strength and joy are in His place.

²⁸Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,

Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

²⁹Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name;

Bring an ¹offering, and come before Him;

^aWorship the Lord in ²holy array.

³⁰Tremble before Him, all the earth;

Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved.

^31aLet the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;

And let them say among the nations, “^bThe Lord reigns.”

^32aLet the sea ¹roar, and ²all it contains;

Let the field exult, and all that is in it.

³³Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the Lord;

For He is coming to judge the earth.

^34aO give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;

For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

^35aThen say, “Save us, O God of our salvation,

And gather us and deliver us from the nations,

To give thanks to Your holy name,

And ¹glory in Your praise.”

^36aBlessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

From everlasting even to everlasting.

Then all the people ^bsaid, “Amen,” and praised the Lord.

Worship before the Ark

³⁷So he left Asaph and his ¹relatives there ^abefore the ark of the covenant of the Lord to minister before the ark continually, ^bas every day’s work required;

³⁸and ^aObed-edom with ¹his 68 relatives; Obed-edom, also the son of Jeduthun, and ^bHosah as gatekeepers.

³⁹He left ^aZadok the priest and his ¹relatives the priests ^bbefore the ²tabernacle of the Lord in the high place which was at Gibeon,

⁴⁰to offer burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of burnt offering continually morning and evening, ^aeven according to all that is written in the law of the Lord, which He commanded Israel.

⁴¹With them were ^aHeman and Jeduthun, and ^bthe rest who were chosen, who were designated by name, to ^cgive thanks to the Lord, because His lovingkindness is everlasting.

⁴²And with them were Heman and Jeduthun with trumpets and cymbals for those who should sound aloud, and with instruments for ^athe songs of God, and the sons of Jeduthun for the gate.

^43aThen all the people departed each to his house, and David returned to bless his household.