1 Chronicles 15:1–28

¹David constructed buildings for himself in the City of David, and he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it. ²Then David said, “No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, because the LORD has chosen them to carry the ark of the LORD and to minister before Him forever.”

³And David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the LORD to the place he had prepared for it. ⁴Then he gathered together the descendants of Aaron and the Levites:

⁵From the Kohathites, Uriel the chief and 120 of his relatives;

⁶from the Merarites, Asaiah the chief and 220 of his relatives;

⁷from the Gershomites,^a Joel the chief and 130 of his relatives;

⁸from the Elizaphanites, Shemaiah the chief and 200 of his relatives;

⁹from the Hebronites, Eliel the chief and 80 of his relatives;

¹⁰and from the Uzzielites, Amminadab the chief and 112 of his relatives.

¹¹David summoned the priests Zadok and Abiathar and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab. ¹²And he said to them, “You are the heads of the Levitical families. You and your relatives must consecrate yourselves so that you may bring the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. ¹³It was because you Levites were not with us the first time that the LORD our God burst forth in anger against us. For we did not consult Him about the proper order.”

¹⁴So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel. ¹⁵And the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the LORD.

¹⁶David also told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their relatives as singers to lift up their voices with joy, accompanied by musical instruments— harps, lyres, and cymbals. ¹⁷So the Levites appointed Heman son of Joel; from his brothers, Asaph son of Berechiah; from their brothers the Merarites, Ethan son of Kushaiah; ¹⁸and with them their brothers next in rank: Zechariah,^b Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, and the gatekeepers Obed-edom and Jeiel.^c

¹⁹The musicians Heman, Asaph, and Ethan were to sound the bronze cymbals. ²⁰Zechariah, Aziel,^d Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah were to play the harps according to Alamoth.^{e 21}And Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were to lead the music with lyres according to Sheminith.^{f 22}Chenaniah the head Levite was the director of the music because he was highly skilled.

²³Berechiah and Elkanah were to be guardians^g of the ark. ²⁴Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer — the priests — were to blow the trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah were also to be guardians of the ark.

²⁵So David, the elders of Israel, and the commanders of thousands went with rejoicing to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the house of Obed-edom. ²⁶And because God helped the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.

²⁷Now David was dressed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, as well as the singers and Chenaniah, the director of music for the singers. David also wore a linen ephod. ²⁸So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, with the sounding of rams’ horns and trumpets, and with cymbals and the music of harps and lyres.