¹David made himself houses in David ’s city ; and he prepared a place for God’s ark, and pitched a tent for it .

²Then David said, “No one ought to carry God ’s ark but the Levites . For the LORD has chosen them to carry God ’s ark, and to minister to him forever .”

³David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem , to bring up the LORD ’s ark to its place , which he had prepared for it .

⁴David gathered together the sons of Aaron and the Levites :

⁵of the sons of Kohath , Uriel the chief , and his brothers one hundred and twenty ;

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

⁷of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief , and his brothers one hundred and thirty ;

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

⁹of the sons of Hebron , Eliel the chief , and his brothers eighty ;

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

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

¹²and said to them , “You are the heads of the fathers’ households of the Levites . Sanctify yourselves , both you and your brothers, that you may bring the ark of the LORD , the God of Israel , up to the place that I have prepared for it .

¹³For because you didn’t carry it at first , the LORD our God broke out in anger against us , because we didn’t seek him according to the ordinance .”

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

¹⁵The children of the Levites bore God ’s ark on their shoulders with its poles , as Moses commanded according to the LORD ’s word .

¹⁶David spoke to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brothers as singers with instruments of music , stringed instruments , harps , and cymbals , sounding aloud and lifting up their voices with 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 , Jaaziel , Shemiramoth , Jehiel , Unni , Eliab, Benaiah , Maaseiah , Mattithiah , Eliphelehu, Mikneiah , Obed-Edom , and Jeiel , the doorkeepers .

¹⁹So the singers , Heman , Asaph, and Ethan, were given cymbals of bronze to sound aloud ;

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

²¹and Mattithiah , Eliphelehu, Mikneiah , Obed-Edom , Jeiel , and Azaziah , with harps tuned to the eight-stringed lyre , to lead .

²²Chenaniah , chief of the Levites , was over the singing . He taught the singers, because he was skilful.

²³Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark.

²⁴Shebaniah , Joshaphat , Nethanel , Amasai , Zechariah , Benaiah , and Eliezer, the priests , blew the trumpets before God’s ark; and Obed-Edom and Jehiah were doorkeepers for the ark.

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

²⁶When God helped the Levites who bore the ark of the LORD ’s covenant , they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.

²⁷David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who bore the ark, the singers , and Chenaniah the choir master with the singers ; and David had an ephod of linen on him .

²⁸Thus all Israel brought the ark of the LORD ’s covenant up with shouting , with sound of the cornet , with trumpets , and with cymbals , sounding aloud with stringed instruments and harps .

²⁹As the ark of the LORD ’s covenant came to David ’s city , Michal the daughter of Saul looked out at the window , and saw king David dancing and playing ; and she despised him in her heart .