1And Davida made houses for himself in the city of David, and he prepared a place for the ark of God and set up a tent for it.
2Then David said, “No one is to carry the ark of God but the Levites. For Yahweh has chosen them to carry the ark of God and to minister to him forever.”
3And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of Yahweh to its place that he had prepared for it.
4And David gathered together the sons of Aaron and the Levites:
5Of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, and his brothers 120;
6of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, and his brothers 220;
7of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, and his brothers 130;
8of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, and his brothers 200;
9of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief, and his brothers 80;
10of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, and his brothers 112.
11David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab,
12and said to them, “You are the heads of the fathers’ households of the Levites. Make yourselves holy, both you and your brothers, and bring up the ark of Yahweh the God of Israel to the place that I have prepared for it.
13Because you did not carry it the first time, Yahweh our God broke out against us; for we did not seek him according to the ordinance.”
14So the priests and the Levites made themselves holy in order to bring up the ark of Yahweh the God of Israel.
15The sons of the Levites carried the ark of God—as Moses commanded in accordance with the word of Yahweh—on their shoulders with the poles on them.
16David spoke to the heads of the Levites to appoint their relatives as the singers with instruments of music, lyres and harps and cymbals, playing aloud to raise sounds of joy.
17So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel, and of his brothers, Asaph the son of Berechiah, and of the sons of Merari their brothers, Ethan the son of Kushaiah;
18and with them their brothers of the second rank, Zechariah, Ben and Jaaziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, Eliab and Benaiah, and Maaseiah, and Mattithiah, and Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, the gatekeepers.
19So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were to sound the bronze cymbals;
20and Zechariah, and Aziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, and Eliab, and Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with lyres set to alamoth;
21and Mattithiah, and Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, and Azaziah, leading with harps according to the sheminith.
22Chenaniah, head of the Levites, was over the song; he instructed about singing because he was skillful.
23Berechiah and Elkanah were gatekeepers for the ark.
24Shebaniah, and Joshaphat, and Nethanel, and Amasai, and Zechariah, and Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, blew the trumpets before the ark of God, and Obed-edom and Jehiah were gatekeepers for the ark.
25So David and the elders of Israel and the heads over thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh out of the house of Obed-edom with joy.
26And because God helped the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.
27David was clothed with a cloak of fine linen, and also were all the Levites who carried the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song with the singers. David also had on an ephod of linen.
28So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh with shouting, and with the sound of the shophar and with trumpets and with cymbals, playing aloud with lyres and harps.
29But as the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came to the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David dancing and playing, and she despised him in her heart.
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