First Book of Chronicles 15

¹ He put up buildings for himself in the Citadel of David and prepared a place for the ark of God, and he pitched a tent for it.

² Then he said, ‘The ark of God may be moved only by the Levites, since Yahweh has chosen them to carry the ark of Yahweh and to serve him always’.

³ Then David gathered all Israel together in Jerusalem to bring the ark of God up to the place he had prepared for it.

⁴ David called together the sons of Aaron and the sons of Levi:

⁵ of the sons of Kohath: Uriel the chief and his hundred and twenty kinsmen;

⁶ of the sons of Merari: Asaiah the chief and his two hundred and twenty kinsmen;

⁷ of the sons of Gershom: Joel the chief and his hundred and thirty kinsmen;

⁸ of the sons of Elizaphan: Shemaiah the chief and his two hundred kinsmen;

⁹ of the sons of Hebron: Eliel the chief and eighty kinsmen;

¹⁰ of the sons of Uzziel: Amminadab the chief and his hundred and twelve kinsmen.

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

¹² To these he said, ‘You are the heads of the levitical families. Sanctify yourselves,[*a] you and your kinsmen, and bring the ark of Yahweh, the God of Israel, up to the place I have prepared for it.

¹³ It was because you were not there the first time that Yahweh our God broke out against us,[*b] because we did not approach him in the right way.’

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

¹⁵ and the Levites carried the ark of God with the shafts on their shoulders, as Moses had ordered in accordance with the word of Yahweh.

¹⁶ David then told the heads of the Levites to assign duties for their kinsmen as cantors, with their various instruments of music, harps and lyres and cymbals, to play joyful tunes.

¹⁷ The Levites then appointed Heman son of Joel, Asaph son of Berechiah, one of his brothers, Ethan son of Kushaiah, one of their Merarite kinsmen;

¹⁸ and with them, next in rank, their kinsmen: Zechariah son of Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, keepers of the gate.

¹⁹ Heman, Asaph and Ethan, the cantors, were to clash the cymbals of bronze;

²⁰ Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah and Benaiah were to play the keyed harp.

²¹ Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel and Azaziah, giving the beat, were to play the octave lyre.

²² Chenaniah, a chief of the Levites and versed in divine oracles, was to expound these, being expert in them.

²³ Berechiah and Elkanah were to be gatekeepers to the ark.

²⁴ The priests Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah and Eliezer were to sound the trumpet before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah were to be gatekeepers to the ark.[*c]

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

²⁶ And since God was helping the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.

²⁷ David was wearing a cloak of fine linen, like all the Levites who carried the ark, the cantors and Chenaniah, the officer in charge of its transportation. David also wore the linen ephod.

²⁸ Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh with acclaim, to the sound of the horn, of trumpets, of cymbals, making harp and lyre resound.

²⁹ Now as the ark of the covenant of Yahweh entered the Citadel of David, Michal the daughter of Saul was watching from the window and saw King David dancing and exultant; and she despised him in her heart.