1 Chronicles 15

The Ark Brought to Jerusalem

15David built houses for himself in the City of David; and he prepared a place for the ark of God, ^aand pitched a tent for it. ²Then David said, “No one may carry the ^bark of God but the Levites, for ^cthe Lord has chosen them to carry the ark of God and to minister before Him forever.” ³And David ^dgathered all Israel together at Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the Lord to its place, which he had prepared for it. ⁴Then David assembled the children of Aaron and the Levites: ⁵of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, and one hundred and twenty of his ¹brethren; ⁶of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, and two hundred and twenty of his brethren; ⁷of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, and one hundred and thirty of his brethren; ⁸of the sons of ^eElizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, and two hundred of his brethren; ⁹of the sons of ^fHebron, Eliel the chief, and eighty of his brethren; ¹⁰of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, and one hundred and twelve of his brethren.

¹¹And David called for ^gZadok and ^hAbiathar the priests, and for the Levites: for Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab. ¹²He said to them, “You are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites; ²sanctify yourselves, you and your brethren, that you may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel to the place I have prepared for it. ¹³For ⁱbecause you did not do it the first time, ^jthe Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not consult Him ³about the proper order.”

¹⁴So the priests and the Levites ⁴sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁵And the children of the Levites bore the ark of God on their shoulders, by its poles, as ^kMoses had commanded according to the word of the Lord.

¹⁶Then David spoke to the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers accompanied by instruments of music, stringed instruments, harps, and cymbals, by raising the voice with resounding joy. ¹⁷So the Levites appointed ^lHeman the son of Joel; and of his brethren, ^mAsaph the son of Berechiah; and of their brethren, the sons of Merari, ⁿEthan the son of Kushaiah; ¹⁸and with them their brethren of the second rank: Zechariah, ⁵Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Elipheleh, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel, the gatekeepers; ¹⁹the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were to sound the cymbals of bronze; ²⁰Zechariah, ⁶Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with strings according to ^oAlamoth; ²¹Mattithiah, Elipheleh, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah, to direct with harps on the ^pSheminith; ²²Chenaniah, leader of the Levites, was instructor in charge of the music, because he was skillful; ²³Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark; ²⁴Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, ^qwere to blow the trumpets before the ark of God; and ^rObed-Edom and Jehiah, doorkeepers for the ark.

²⁵So ^sDavid, the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the house of Obed-Edom with joy. ²⁶And so it was, when God helped the Levites who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, that they offered seven bulls and seven rams. ²⁷David was clothed with a robe of fine ^tlinen, as were all the Levites who bore the ark, the singers, and Chenaniah the music master with the singers. David also wore a linen ephod. ^28uThus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the horn, with trumpets and with cymbals, making music with stringed instruments and harps.

²⁹And it happened, ^vas the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the City of David, that Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David whirling and playing music; and she despised him in her heart.