David brings the covenant box to Jerusalem
1David built his palaces in the City of David. He also put up the tent of the Lord and prepared a place for the covenant box of God. 2Then David said that only the Levites could carry the covenant box of God, and no one else could carry it. The Lord had chosen the Levites to carry the covenant box and only they could work with it. 3David called all the people of Israel to come to Jerusalem to bring the covenant box of the Lord to the place that he had prepared for it. 4David called all the descendants of Aaron and the Levites to come together.
5From the family of Kohath there were 120 people. Their leader was Uriel. 6From the Merari family there were 200 people. Their leader was Asaiah. 7From the Gershon family there were 130 people. Their leader was Joel. 8From the Elizaphan family there were 200 people. Their leader was Shemaiah. 9From the Hebron family there were 80 people. Their leader was Eliel. 10From the Uzziel family there were 112 people. Their leader was Amminadab.
11David called the priests Zadok and Abiathar, Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel and Amminadab. They were Levites. 12He said to them: ‘You are the leaders of the Levite families. You must consecrate yourselves and your families and you must bring the covenant box of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it. 13Last time we did not ask the Lord and you did not carry the covenant box. Other people did, and that is why God our Lord punished us.’
14The priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to go and get the covenant box of the Lord, the God of Israel. 15The Levites carried the covenant box of God with carrying poles on their shoulders as Moses had told them to do. The Lord had told Moses how they must carry it. 16David told the leaders of the Levites to choose some of the Levites to sing and play musical_instruments. They had to play harps, lyres and cymbals. They had to sing and rejoice loudly. 17The Levites then chose Heman, son of Joel, Asaph, son of Berekiah, and Ethan, son of Kushaiah from the Merari family. They were all Levites. 18There were other Levites with them who were not important. They were Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah and the gatekeepers, Obed-Edom and Jeiel.
19Heman, Asaph and Ethan had to sing and they also played bronze cymbals. 20Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah and Benaiah had to play the harps which sounded like a woman's voice. 21Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jeiel and Azaziah had to play the lyres which sounded like a man's voice. They had to play while the people were singing. 22Kenaniah was the leader of the Levites who were singing. He could sing very well and he taught the other Levites how to sing.
23Berekiah and Elkanah were the temple-guards of the covenant box. 24The priests Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah and Eliezer blew the trumpets in front of the covenant box of God. Obed-Edom and Jehiah were also temple-guards at the covenant box.
25David, the leaders_of_Israel and the important officers who went to get the covenant box of God from the house of Obed-Edom were all very happy. 26They sacrificed 7 bulls and 7 rams, because God had helped the Levites who carried the covenant box. 27David was wearing a cloak of fine linen. The Levites who carried the covenant box, the people who were singing and their leader, Kenaniah, were all wearing cloaks of fine linen. David was also wearing a linen shoulder-cloth. 28All of the Israelites brought the covenant box and they shouted and played trumpets, horns, cymbals, harps and lyres. 29When the covenant box came into the City of David, Michal, daughter of Saul, looked out of the window and she saw King David dancing and rejoicing. When she saw him doing this, she stopped respecting him.
