1 DAVID MADE for himself houses in the City of David, and he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it. 2 Then David said, None should carry the ark of God but the Levites, for the Lord chose them to carry the ark of God and to minister to Him forever. 3 And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord to its place, which he had prepared for it. 4 And David gathered together the sons of Aaron and the Levites: 5 Of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, with 120 kinsmen; 6 Of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, with 220 kinsmen; 7 Of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, with 130 kinsmen; 8 Of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, with 200 kinsmen; 9 Of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief, with 80 kinsmen; 10 Of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, with 112 kinsmen. 11 And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites--Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab, 12 And said to them, You are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites; sanctify yourselves, both you and your brethren, that you may bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it. 13 For because you bore it not [as God directed] at the first, the Lord our God broke forth upon us--because we did not seek Him in the way He ordained. 14 So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel. 15 The Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses commanded by the word of the Lord.
16 David told the chief Levites to appoint their brethren the singers with instruments of music--harps, lyres, and cymbals--to play loudly and lift up their voices with joy. 17 So the Levites appointed Heman son of Joel; and of his brethren, Asaph son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari their brethren, Ethan son of Kushaiah; 18 And with them their brethren of the second class: Zechariah, Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and also the gatekeepers, Obed-edom and Jeiel. 19 So the singers Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were appointed to sound bronze cymbals; 20 Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah were to play harps [resembling guitars] set to Alamoth [probably the treble voice]; 21 Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were to lead with lyres set to Sheminith [the bass voice]. 22 Chenaniah, leader of the Levites in singing, was put in charge of carrying the ark and lifting up song. He instructed about these matters because he was skilled and able. 23 Berechiah and Elkanah were gatekeepers for the ark. 24 Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer the priests were to blow the trumpets before the ark of God. And Obed-edom and Jehiah (Jeiel) were also gatekeepers for the ark.
25 So David, 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. 26 And when God helped the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord [with a safe start], they offered seven bulls and seven rams. 27 David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as were the Levites who bore the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah, director of the music of the singers. David also wore an ephod [a priestly upper garment] of linen. 28 Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, sound of the cornet, trumpets, and cymbals, sounding aloud with harps and lyres.
29 As the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the City of David, Michal [David's wife] daughter of Saul, looking from a window, saw King David leaping as in sport, and she despised him in her heart.