✧And [David] made him houses in the city of David, and prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent. ✧2Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the LORD chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him for ever. ✧3And David gathered all Israel together to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the LORD unto his place, which he had prepared for it. ✧4And David assembled the children of Aaron, and the Levites: ✧5Of the sons of Kohath; Uriel the chief, and his brethren an hundred and twenty: ✧6Of the sons of Merari; Asaiah the chief, and his brethren two hundred and twenty: ✧7Of the sons of Gershom; Joel the chief, and his brethren an hundred and thirty: ✧8Of the sons of Elizaphan; Shemaiah the chief, and his brethren two hundred: ✧9Of the sons of Hebron; Eliel the chief, and his brethren fourscore: ✧10Of the sons of Uzziel; Amminadab the chief, and his brethren an hundred and twelve. ✧11And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab, ✧12And said unto them, Ye [are] the chief of the fathers of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, [both] ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel unto [the place that] I have prepared for it. ✧13For because ye [did it] not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order. ✧14So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel. ✧15And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the LORD. ✧16And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren [to be] the singers with instruments of musick, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy. ✧17So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel; and of his brethren, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari their brethren, Ethan the son of Kushaiah; ✧18And with them their brethren of the second [degree], Zechariah, Ben, and Jaaziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, Eliab, and Benaiah, and Maaseiah, and Mattithiah, and Elipheleh, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, the porters. ✧19So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, [were appointed] to sound with cymbals of brass; ✧20And Zechariah, and Aziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, and Eliab, and Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with psalteries on Alamoth; ✧21And Mattithiah, and Elipheleh, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps on the Sheminith to excel. ✧22And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, [was] for song: he instructed about the song, because he [was] skilful. ✧23And Berechiah and Elkanah [were] doorkeepers for the ark. ✧24And Shebaniah, and Jehoshaphat, and Nethaneel, and Amasai, and Zechariah, and Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, did blow with the trumpets before the ark of God: and Obed-edom and Jehiah [were] doorkeepers for the ark. ✧25So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the house of Obed-edom with joy. ✧26And it came to pass, when God helped the Levites that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that they offered seven bullocks and seven rams. ✧27And David [was] clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that bare the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song with the singers: David also [had] upon him an ephod of linen. ✧28Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, making a noise with psalteries and harps. ✧29And it came to pass, [as] the ark of the covenant of the LORD came to the city of David, that Michal the daughter of Saul looking out at a window saw king David dancing and playing: and she despised him in her heart.
King James Version (KJV). King James Version (1769 text). Public domain outside the United Kingdom.