A Tent for the Ark

¹So they brought the ark of God and placed it inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And they presented burnt offerings and peace offerings before God.

²When David had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD.

³Then he distributed to every man and woman of Israel a loaf of bread, a date cake,and a raisin cake.

⁴David appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, to celebrate, to give thanks, and to praise the LORD, the God of Israel.

⁵Asaph was the chief, Zechariah was second, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel. They were to play the harps and lyres, while Asaph sounded the cymbals

⁶and the priests Benaiah and Jahaziel blew the trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God.

David’s Psalms of Thanksgiving

⁷On that day David first committed to Asaph and his associates this song of thanksgiving to the LORD:

⁸“Give thanks to the LORD; call upon His name;make known His deeds among the nations.

⁹Sing to Him, sing praises to Him;tell of all His wonders.

¹⁰Glory in His holy name;let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

¹¹Seek out the LORD and His strength;seek His face always.

¹²Remember the wonders He has done,His marvels, and the judgments He has pronounced,

¹³O offspring of His servant Israel,O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones.

¹⁴He is the LORD our God;His judgments carry throughout the earth.

¹⁵RememberHis covenant forever,the word He ordained for a thousand generations—

¹⁶the covenant He made with Abraham,and the oath He swore to Isaac.

¹⁷He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree,to Israel as an everlasting covenant:

¹⁸‘I will give you the land of Canaanas the portion of your inheritance.’

¹⁹When they were few in number,few indeed, and strangers in the land,

²⁰they wandered from nation to nation,from one kingdom to another.

²¹He let no man oppress them;He rebuked kings on their behalf:

²²‘Do not touch My anointed ones!Do no harm to My prophets!’

Sing to the LORD, All the Earth

²³Sing to the LORD, all the earth.Proclaim His salvation day after day.

²⁴Declare His glory among the nations,His wonders among all peoples.

²⁵For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised;He is to be feared above all gods.

²⁶For all the gods of the nations are idols,but it is the LORD who made the heavens.

²⁷Splendor and majesty are before Him;strength and joy fill His dwelling.

²⁸Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the nations,ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.

²⁹Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name;bring an offering and come before Him.Worship the LORD in the splendor of His holiness;

³⁰tremble before Him, all the earth.The world is firmly established;it cannot be moved.

³¹Let the heavens be glad,and the earth rejoice.Let them say among the nations,‘The LORD reigns!’

³²Let the sea resound,and all that fills it;let the fields exult,and all that is in them.

³³Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the LORD,for He is coming to judge the earth.

³⁴Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;His loving devotionendures forever.

³⁵Then cry out: ‘Save us, O God of our salvation;gather and deliver us from the nations,that we may give thanks to Your holy name,that we may glory in Your praise.’

³⁶Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,from everlasting to everlasting.”Then all the people said, “Amen!” and “Praise the LORD!”

Worship before the Ark

³⁷So David left Asaph and his associates there before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to minister there regularly according to the daily requirements,

³⁸along with Obed-edom and his sixty-eight relatives. Obed-edom son of Jeduthun, and also Hosah, were to be gatekeepers.

³⁹And David left Zadok the priest and his fellow priests before the tabernacle of the LORD at the high place in Gibeon

⁴⁰to regularly present burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of burnt offerings, morning and evening, according to all that was written in the Law of the LORD, which He had commanded Israel to keep.

⁴¹With them were Heman, Jeduthun, and the rest of those chosen and designated by name to give thanks to the LORD, for “His loving devotion endures forever.”

⁴²Heman and Jeduthun had with them trumpets and cymbals for the music and instruments for the songs of God.And the sons of Jeduthun were stationed at the gate.

⁴³Then all the people departed for their homes, and David returned home to bless his household.

David Fetches the Ark

¹David again assembled the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand in all.

²And he and all his troops set out for Baale of Judahto bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name—the name of the LORD of Hosts, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on it.

³They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart,

⁴bringing with it the ark of God.And Ahio was walking in front of the ark.

Uzzah Touches the Ark

⁵David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD with all kinds of wood instruments,harps, stringed instruments, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals.

⁶When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon,Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen had stumbled.

⁷And the anger of the LORD burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down on the spot for his irreverence,and he died there beside the ark of God.

⁸Then David became angry because the LORD had burst forth against Uzzah. So he named that place Perez-uzzah,as it is called to this day.

⁹That day David feared the LORD and asked, “How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?”

¹⁰So he was unwilling to move the ark of the LORD to the City of David; instead, he took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

¹¹Thus the ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months, and the LORD blessed him and all his household.

The Ark Brought to Jerusalem

¹²Now it was reported to King David, “The LORD has blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.”So David went and had the ark of God brought up from the house of Obed-edom into the City of David with rejoicing.

¹³When those carrying the ark of the LORD had advanced six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf.

¹⁴And David, wearing a linen ephod, danced with all his might before the LORD,

¹⁵while he and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and the sounding of the ram’s horn.

Michal’s Contempt for David

¹⁶As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart.

¹⁷So they brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it. Then David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.

¹⁸When David had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of Hosts.

¹⁹Then he distributed to every man and woman among the multitude of Israel a loaf of bread, a date cake,and a raisin cake. And all the people departed, each to his own home.

²⁰When David returned home to bless his own household, Saul’s daughter Michal came out to meet him. “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today!” she said. “He has uncovered himself today in the sight of the maidservants of his subjects, like a vulgar person would do.”

²¹But David said to Michal, “I was dancing before the LORD, who chose me over your father and all his house when He appointed me ruler over the LORD’s people Israel. I will celebrate before the LORD,

²²and I will humiliate and humble myself even more than this. Yet I will be honored by the maidservants of whom you have spoken.”

²³And Michal the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.

David Fetches the Ark

¹Then David conferred with all his leaders, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds.

²And he said to the whole assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if this is of the LORD our God, let us send word far and wide to the rest of our brothers in all the land of Israel, and also to the priests and Levites in their cities and pasturelands, so that they may join us.

³Then let us bring back the ark of our God, for we did not inquire of Himin the days of Saul.”

⁴And because this proposal seemed right to all the people, the whole assembly agreed to it.

⁵So David assembled all Israel, from the River Shihorin Egypt to Lebo-hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim.

⁶David and all Israel went up to Baalah of Judah (that is, Kiriath-jearim) to bring up from there the ark of God the LORD, who is enthroned between the cherubim—the ark that is called by the Name.

⁷So they carried the ark of God from the house of Abinadab on a new cart, with Uzzah and Ahio guiding the cart.

Uzzah Touches the Ark

⁸David and all the Israelites were celebrating before God with all their might, with songs and on harps and lyres, with tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets.

⁹When they came to the threshing floor of Chidon,Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark, because the oxen had stumbled.

¹⁰And the anger of the LORD burned against Uzzah, and He struck him down because he had put his hand on the ark. So he died there before God.

¹¹Then David became angry because the LORD had burst forth against Uzzah. So he named that place Perez-uzzah,as it is called to this day.

¹²That day David feared God and asked, “How can I ever bring the ark of God to me?”

¹³So he did not move the ark with him to the City of David; instead, he took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

¹⁴Thus the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house for three months, and the LORD blessed his household and everything he owned.

Tell of His Wonders

¹Give thanks to the LORD, call upon His name;make known His deeds among the nations.

²Sing to Him, sing praises to Him;tell of all His wonders.

³Glory in His holy name;let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

⁴Seek out the LORD and His strength;seek His face always.

⁵Remember the wonders He has done,His marvels, and the judgments He has pronounced,

⁶O offspring of His servant Abraham,O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones.

⁷He is the LORD our God;His judgments carry throughout the earth.

⁸He remembers His covenant forever,the word He ordained for a thousand generations—

⁹the covenant He made with Abraham,and the oath He swore to Isaac.

¹⁰He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree,to Israel as an everlasting covenant:

¹¹“I will give you the land of Canaanas the portion of your inheritance.”

¹²When they were few in number,few indeed, and strangers in the land,

¹³they wandered from nation to nation,from one kingdom to another.

¹⁴He let no man oppress them;He rebuked kings on their behalf:

¹⁵“Do not touch My anointed ones!Do no harm to My prophets!”

¹⁶He called down famine on the landand cut off all their suppliesof food.

¹⁷He sent a man before them—Joseph, sold as a slave.

¹⁸They bruised his feet with shacklesand placed his neck in irons,

¹⁹until his prediction came trueand the word of the LORD proved him right.

²⁰The king sent and released him;the ruler of peoples set him free.

²¹He made him master of his household,ruler over all his substance,

²²to instructhis princes as he pleasedand teach his elders wisdom.

²³Then Israel entered Egypt;Jacob dwelt in the land of Ham.

²⁴And the LORD made His people very fruitful,more numerous than their foes,

²⁵whose hearts He turned to hate His people,to conspire against His servants.

²⁶He sent Moses His servant,and Aaron, whom He had chosen.

²⁷They performed His miraculous signs among them,and wonders in the land of Ham.

²⁸He sent darkness, and it became dark—yet they defied His words.

²⁹He turned their waters to bloodand caused their fish to die.

³⁰Their land teemed with frogs,even in their royal chambers.

³¹He spoke, and insects swarmed—gnats throughout their country.

³²He gave them hail for rain,with lightning throughout their land.

³³He struck their vines and fig treesand shattered the trees of their country.

³⁴He spoke, and the locusts came—young locusts without number.

³⁵They devoured every plant in their landand consumed the produce of their soil.

³⁶Then He struck all the firstborn in their land,the firstfruits of all their vigor.

³⁷He brought Israel out with silver and gold,and none among His tribes stumbled.

³⁸Egypt was glad when they departed,for the dread of Israel had fallen on them.

³⁹He spread a cloud as a coveringand a fire to light up the night.

⁴⁰They asked, and He brought quailand satisfied them with the bread of heaven.

⁴¹He opened a rock, and water gushed out;it flowed like a river in the desert.

⁴²For He remembered His holy promiseto Abraham His servant.

⁴³He brought forth His people with rejoicing,His chosen with shouts of joy.

⁴⁴He gave them the lands of the nations,that they might inherit the fruit of others’ labor,

⁴⁵that they might keep His statutesand obey His laws.Hallelujah!