1 Chronicles 15

1And he made houses 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 is to carry the ark of God except the Levites, for Yahweh has chosen them to carry the ark of Yahweh and to minister to him forever.”

3And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of Yahweh to its place, which he had prepared for it.

4And David gathered the sons of Aaron and the Levites.

5For the sons of Kohath: Uriel the chief, and 120 of his brothers.

6For the sons of Merari: Asaiah the chief, and 220 of his brothers.

7For the sons of Gershom: Joel the chief, and 130 of his brothers.

8For the sons of Elizaphan: Shemaiah the chief, and two hundred of his brothers.

9For the sons of Hebron: Eliel the chief, and eighty of his brothers.

10For the sons of Uzziel: Amminadab the chief, and his brothers, one hundred and twelve.

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

12And he said to them, “You are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites. Sanctify yourselves, you and your brothers, and bring up the ark of Yahweh, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it.”

13Because you were not there the first time, Yahweh our God broke out against us, because we did not seek him according to the ordinance.

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

15And the sons of the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles upon them, just as Moses had commanded according to the word of Yahweh.

16Then David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brothers, the singers, with musical instruments—harps, lyres, and cymbals—sounding aloud, to raise songs of joy.

17So the Levites appointed Heman son of Joel, and from his brothers Asaph son of Berechiah, and from the sons of Merari, their brothers, Ethan son of Kushaiah.

18And with them were their brothers of the second rank: Zechariah, Ben-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.

19The singers were Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, with bronze cymbals to sound aloud.

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

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

22And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, directed the carrying, because he was skillful at it.

23Berechiah and Elkanah were gatekeepers for the ark.

24And Shebaniah, Jehoshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer the priests were blowing 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 commanders of the thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh from the house of Obed-edom with joy.

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

27David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah, the leader of the singing of the singers; and on David was a linen ephod.

28And all Israel was bringing up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh with shouting, with the sound of a horn, with trumpets, and with cymbals, making music with harps and lyres.

29And as the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came to the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out through the window and saw King David dancing and playing, and she despised him in her heart.