1 And David made houses for himself in the city of David and prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it. 2 Then David said, The ark of God should not be brought except by the Levites, for the LORD has chosen them to carry the ark of God and to minister unto him perpetually. 3 And David gathered all Israel together in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the LORD unto its place, which he had prepared for it. 4 And David assembled the sons of Aaron and the Levites: 5 of the sons of Kohath: Uriel, the chief, and his brethren, one hundred and twenty; 6 of the sons of Merari: Asaiah, the chief and his brethren, two hundred and twenty; 7 of the sons of Gershon: Joel, the chief, and his brethren one hundred and thirty; 8 of the sons of Elizaphan: Shemaiah, the chief, and his brethren, two hundred; 9 of the sons of Hebron: Eliel, the chief and his brethren, eighty; 10 of the sons of Uzziel: Amminadab, the chief, and his brethren, one hundred and twelve. 11 And David also called for Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab 12 and said unto them, Ye are the chief of the fathers among the Levites; sanctify yourselves and your brethren and bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it, 13 for because ye did not do it thus at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us because we did not seek him according to his ordinance. 14 So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel. 15 And the sons of the Levites bore the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the LORD.
16 And David spoke to the chief of the Levites to appoint of their brethren as singers with instruments of music, with psalteries and harps and cymbals sounding, and to lift up their voice with joy. 17 So the Levites appointed Heman, the son of Joel; and of his brethren, Asaph, the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari and of their brethren, Ethan the son of Kushaiah, 18 and with them their brethren of the second order, Zechariah, Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Elipheleh, Mikneiah, Obededom, and Jeiel, the porters. 19 So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, raised their voices with cymbals of brass; 20 and Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with psalteries on Alamoth. 21 And Mattithiah, Elipheleh, Mikneiah, Obededom, Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps on the Sheminith to excel. 22 And Chenaniah, prince of the Levites in prophecy, for he presided in prophecy, because he had understanding. 23 And Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark. 24 And Shebaniah, Jehoshaphat, Nethaneel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, blew the trumpets before the ark of God; and Obededom and Jehiah were also doorkeepers for the ark.
25 So 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 Obededom with joy. 26 And with God helping the Levites that bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, they sacrificed seven bullocks and seven rams. 27 And David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and also all the Levites that bore the ark and the singers and Chenaniah, the prince of the prophecy of the singers. David also had upon him an ephod of linen. 28 Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting and with sound of the shofar and with trumpets and with cymbals, making a noise with psalteries and harps.
29 And 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.