1 *Chronicles 13

₁David asked all the leaders: ‘What do you think we must do?’ He asked all the leaders of 1 000 men and the leaders of 100 men. ₂Then David said to the congregation of Israel: ‘If you think it is right and it is what God our Lord wants, then we must send messages to all of the Israelites who are not here. We must call everyone in the land_of_Israel. They must all come together here with the priests and the Levites who are in and near their towns. ₃Then we must bring the covenant box of our God back to us because we did not use it to ask God what to do in the time when Saul was king.’

₄All the people in the congregation said they must do it because it was the right thing to do. ₅David called all the people of Israel to bring the covenant box of God from the town of Kiriath-Jearim. He called all the Israelites from the Shihor River, near Egypt, to the town of Lebo-Hamath.

₆David and all the people of Israel went to the town of Baalah. The other name of Baalah was Kiriath-Jearim and it belonged to the Judah tribe. They went there to get the covenant box of God. His throne is above the cherub-angels and the covenant box belongs to God. ₇They took the covenant box of God from the house of Abinadab and they put it on a new wagon. Uzzah and Ahio chased the oxen which pulled the wagon. ₈David and the people of Israel danced before God and they sang loudly. They played music with lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals and trumpets. ₉When they came to the threshing-floor of Kidon, the oxen almost fell and the covenant box moved. Uzzah put out his hand to stop the covenant box from falling off. ₁₀The Lord became angry with Uzzah and caused him to die because he had put out his hand and touched the covenant box. Uzzah died there in front of God. ₁₁David was shocked and upset because the Lord had caused Uzzah to die and he named that place Perez-Uzzah. Today this is still the name of that place. ₁₂On that day David became afraid of the Lord. David said: ‘I can not let the covenant box of God come with me.’ ₁₃That is why David did not bring the covenant box with him into the City of David. He said they must take the covenant box to the house of Obed-Edom, who came from the town of Gath. ₁₄The covenant box of God stayed in the house of Obed-Edom for 3 months. The Lord blessed the house of Obed-Edom and everything that belonged to him.