I Chronicles 15

¹AndDavidmade him houses in the city of David; and he prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent.

²Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath Jehovah chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him for ever.

³And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of Jehovah unto its place, which 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 brethren a hundred and twenty;

⁶of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, and his brethren two hundred and twenty;

⁷of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, and his brethren a hundred and thirty;

⁸of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, and his brethren two hundred;

⁹of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief, and his brethren fourscore;

¹⁰of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, and his brethren a hundred and twelve.

¹¹And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab,

¹²and said unto them, Ye are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of Jehovah, the God of Israel, unto the place that I have prepared for it.

¹³For because ye bare it not at the first, Jehovah our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not according to the ordinance.

¹⁴So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of Jehovah, the God of Israel.

¹⁵And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of Jehovah.

¹⁶And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren the singers, with instruments of music, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding aloud and lifting up the voice with joy.

¹⁷So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel; and of his brethren, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari their brethren, Ethan the son of Kushaiah;

¹⁸and with them their brethren of the second degree, 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 doorkeepers.

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

²⁰and Zechariah, and Aziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, and Eliab, and Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with psalteries set to Alamoth;

²¹and Mattithiah, and Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps set to the Sheminith, to lead.

²²And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was over the song: he instructed about the song, because he was skilful.

²³And Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark.

²⁴And Shebaniah, and Joshaphat, and Nethanel, and Amasai, and Zechariah, and Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, did blow the trumpets before the ark of God; and Obed-edom and Jehiah were doorkeepers for the ark.

²⁵So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the house of Obed-edom with joy.

²⁶And it came to pass, when God helped the Levites that bare the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, that they sacrificed seven bullocks and seven rams.

²⁷And David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that bare the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song with the singers: and David had upon him an ephod of linen.

²⁸Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, sounding aloud with psalteries and harps.

²⁹And it came to pass, as the ark of the covenant of Jehovah came to the city of David, that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out at the window, and saw king David dancing and playing; and she despised him in her heart.

I Chronicles 15

¹David constructed buildings for himself in the City of David, and he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it.

²Then David said, “No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, because the LORD has chosen them to carry the ark of the LORD and to minister before Him forever.”

³And David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the LORD to the place he had prepared for it.

⁴Then he gathered together the descendants of Aaron and the Levites:

⁵From the Kohathites, Uriel the chief and 120 of his relatives;

⁶from the Merarites, Asaiah the chief and 220 of his relatives;

⁷from the Gershomites, Joel the chief and 130 of his relatives;

⁸from the Elizaphanites, Shemaiah the chief and 200 of his relatives;

⁹from the Hebronites, Eliel the chief and 80 of his relatives;

¹⁰and from the Uzzielites, Amminadab the chief and 112 of his relatives.

¹¹David summoned the priests Zadok and Abiathar and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab.

¹²And he said to them, “You are the heads of the Levitical families. You and your relatives must consecrate yourselves so that you may bring the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it.

¹³It was because you Levites were not with us the first time that the LORD our God burst forth in anger against us. For we did not consult Him about the proper order.”

¹⁴So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel.

¹⁵And the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the LORD.

¹⁶David also told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their relatives as singers to lift up their voices with joy, accompanied by musical instruments—harps, lyres, and cymbals.

¹⁷So the Levites appointed Heman son of Joel; from his brothers, Asaph son of Berechiah; from their brothers the Merarites, Ethan son of Kushaiah;

¹⁸and with them their brothers next in rank: Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, and the gatekeepers Obed-edom and Jeiel.

¹⁹The musicians Heman, Asaph, and Ethan were to sound the bronze cymbals.

²⁰Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah were to play the harps according to Alamoth.

²¹And Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were to lead the music with lyres according to Sheminith.

²²Chenaniah the head Levite was the director of the music because he was highly skilled.

²³Berechiah and Elkanah were to be guardians of the ark.

²⁴Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer—the priests—were to blow the trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah were also to be guardians of the ark.

²⁵So David, the elders of Israel, and the commanders of thousands went with rejoicing to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the house of Obed-edom.

²⁶And because God helped the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.

²⁷Now David was dressed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, as well as the singers and Chenaniah, the director of music for the singers. David also wore a linen ephod.

²⁸So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, with the sounding of rams’ horns and trumpets, and with cymbals and the music of harps and lyres.

²⁹As the ark of the covenant of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from a window and saw King David dancing and celebrating, and she despised him in her heart.