Chapter 15

Carrying the Ark to Jerusalem. ¹ After David had constructed buildings for himself in the City of David, he prepared a place for the Ark of God, pitching a tent for it.

² David then said, “No one can carry the Ark of God except the Levites. The Lord has chosen them to carry the Ark of God and to minister to him forever.”

³ David assembled all of Israel in Jerusalem to bring the Ark of the Lord to the place that he had prepared for it. ⁴ David assembled the descendants of Aaron and the Levites.

⁵ From the descendants of Kohath, there were Uriel, their leader, and one hundred and twenty of his brethren. ⁶ From the descendants of Merari, there were Asaiah, their leader, and two hundred and twenty of his brethren. ⁷ From the descendants of Gershon, there were Joel, their leader, and one hundred and thirty of his brethren. ⁸ From the descendants of Elizaphan, there were Shemaiah, their leader, and two hundred of his brethren. ⁹ From the descendants of Hebron, there were Eliel, their leader, and eighty of his brethren. ¹⁰ From the descendants of Uzziel, there were Amminadab, their leader, and one hundred and twelve of his brethren.

¹¹ David summoned Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, and Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab the Levites. ¹² He said to them, “You are the leaders of the ancestral clans of the Levites. Sanctify yourselves and your brethren so that you might bring the Ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it. ^13 [a]It is because you did not bring it up the first time that the Lord burst forth against us, for we did not inquire of him about the proper order.”

¹⁴ The priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the Ark of the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁵ The descendants of the Levites carried the Ark of God by its poles on their shoulders, as Moses had commanded, according to the word of the Lord.

¹⁶ David spoke to the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brethren as singers, lifting their voices up with joy, and accompanied by music played on the lyres, harps, and cymbals. ¹⁷ So the Levites appointed Heman, the son of Joel, and one of his brethren, Asaph, the son of Berechiah, and from among the brethren of the Merarites, Ethan, the son of Kushaiah.

¹⁸ With them, there were their brethren of second rank: Zechariah, Uzziel, Shemira-moth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel, the gatekeepers.

¹⁹ The musicians Heman, Asaph, and Ethan were to play upon bronze cymbals. ²⁰ Zechariah, Uzziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah were to play the lyres according to Alamoth. ²¹ Matthithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were to play upon harps according to the Sheminith. ²² Chenaniah, the leader of the Levites dedicated to music, directed the music, for he was skillful at it.

²³ Berechiah and Elkanah were the gatekeepers for the Ark. ²⁴ Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, were to blow the trumpets before the Ark of God. Obed-edom and Jeiel were also gatekeepers for the Ark.

²⁵ The Ark Comes to Jerusalem. David, the elders of Israel, and the captains of the thousands went to bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord up from out of the house of Obed-edom with joy. ²⁶ God helped the Levites carry the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams. ²⁷ David was dressed in a robe made from fine linen, as were the Levites who were carrying the Ark, the singers, and Chenaniah, the director of the music. David also wore a linen ephod.^{[b] 28} All of Israel brought up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord with shouting, to the sound of the horn, the trumpets, and the cymbal, and playing upon the harps and the lyres.

²⁹ As the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord came to the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, was watching out the window. She saw King David dancing and playing, and she despised him in her heart.