Chapter 6

The Ark Brought to Jerusalem. ¹ David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand in all. ² Then he set forth with his entire force to Baalah of Judah to bring up from there the Ark of God, which bears the name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned above the cherubim.

³ They placed the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it forth from the house of Abinadab, which stood on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart. ⁴ Uzzah walked alongside the Ark of God, with Ahio walking in front. ⁵ David and the entire house of Israel danced joyfully before the Lord with all their might, singing to the accompaniment of lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets, and cymbals.

⁶ When they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out his hand to the Ark of God and steadied it because the oxen were stumbling. ⁷ This aroused the Lord’s anger against Uzzah because of his irreverent act, and he died there beside the Ark of God. ⁸ David became greatly upset because the Lord had vented his anger against Uzzah, and to this very day that place is called Perez-uzzah.

⁹ David greatly feared the Lord that day, and he said: “How can the Ark of the Lord be placed in my care?” ¹⁰ Therefore, he decided not to take the Ark of the Lord to be in his care in the City of David. Instead he took it to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. ¹¹ The Ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and his entire household.

¹² When King David was informed that the Lord had blessed the family of Obed-edom and everything that belonged to him because of the Ark of God, David went and brought up the Ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the City of David amid great rejoicing.

¹³ When the bearers of the Ark of the Lord had advanced six steps, David sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf. ^14 [a]Then, girded with a linen ephod, he danced before the Lord with all his might, ¹⁵ as he and all the Israelites brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and the blowing of trumpets.

¹⁶ As the Ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, watched from a window. When she saw King David leaping and whirling around before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.

¹⁷ They brought in the Ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had erected for it. Then David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings in the name of the Lord of hosts. ¹⁸ When he had finished making these offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. ¹⁹ Then he distributed food to all of the people, both men and women, giving to each person in the multitude a loaf of bread, a portion of meat, and a raisin cake. Then all the people returned to their homes.

²⁰ When David returned to bless his household, Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet him. She said: “What an exhibition the king of Israel has made of himself today, exposing himself in the view of the slave girls of his followers like any vulgarian who chooses to shamelessly expose himself before them!”^[b]

²¹ David replied to Michal: “I was dancing in gratitude for the Lord, not for them. The Lord chose me instead of your father and his entire family and appointed me as leader over Israel, the people of the Lord. I shall continue to dance before the Lord in gratitude, ²² and I will demean myself even more. I will be lowly in your esteem, but I will be held in honor by those slave girls of whom you speak.”

²³ Saul’s daughter Michal had no children to the day of her death.