2 Samuel 6-7

Holman Christian Standard Bible

David Moves the Ark

6 David again assembled all the choice men in Israel,^(A) 30,000. ² He and all his troops set out^(B) to bring the ark of God from Baale-judah.^[a] The ark is called by the Name, the name of Yahweh of Hosts who dwells between the cherubim.^{(C) 3} They set the ark of God on a new cart and transported it from Abinadab’s house, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio,^[b] sons of Abinadab, were guiding the cart^{(D) 4} and brought it with the ark of God from Abinadab’s house on the hill. Ahio walked in front of the ark. ⁵ David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with all kinds of fir wood instruments,^[c] lyres, harps, tambourines, sistrums,^[d] and cymbals.^(E)

⁶ When they came to Nacon’s threshing floor, Uzzah reached out to the ark of God and took hold of it because the oxen had stumbled. ⁷ Then the Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah,^(F) and God struck him dead on the spot for his irreverence,^(G) and he died there next to the ark of God. ⁸ David was angry because of the Lord’s outburst against Uzzah, so he named that place an Outburst Against Uzzah,^[e] as it is today. ⁹ David feared the Lord that day and said, “How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?” ¹⁰ So he was not willing to move the ark of the Lord to the city of David;^(H) instead, he took it to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. ¹¹ The ark of the Lord remained in his house three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom^(I) and his whole family.

¹² It was reported to King David: “The Lord has blessed Obed-edom’s family and all that belongs to him because of the ark of God.” So David went and had the ark of God brought up from Obed-edom’s house to the city of David with rejoicing.^{(J) 13} When those carrying the ark of the Lord advanced six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf.^{(K) 14} David was dancing^[f] with all his might before the Lord wearing a linen ephod.^{(L) 15} He and the whole house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of the ram’s horn. ¹⁶ As the ark of the Lord was entering the city of David,^(M) Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.

¹⁷ They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent David had set up for it.^(N) Then David offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings in the Lord’s presence. ¹⁸ When David had finished offering the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of Yahweh of Hosts. ¹⁹ Then he distributed a loaf of bread, a date cake, and a raisin cake to each one in the entire Israelite community, both men and women.^(O) Then all the people left, each to his own home.

²⁰ When David returned home to bless his household,^(P) Saul’s daughter Michal came out to meet him. “How the king of Israel honored himself today!” she said. “He exposed himself today in the sight of the slave girls of his subjects like a vulgar person would expose himself.”

²¹ David replied to Michal, “I was dancing^[g] before the Lord who chose me over your father and his whole family to appoint me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel.^(Q) I will celebrate before the Lord, ²² and I will humble myself even more and humiliate myself.^[h][i] I will be honored by the slave girls you spoke about.” ²³ And Saul’s daughter Michal had no child to the day of her death.

The Lord’s Covenant with David

7 When the king had settled into his palace^(R) and the Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies, ² the king said to Nathan the prophet, “Look, I am living in a cedar house while the ark of God sits inside tent curtains.”^(S)

³ So Nathan told the king, “Go and do all that is on your heart, for the Lord is with you.”

⁴ But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: ⁵ “Go to My servant David and say, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you to build a house for Me to live in?^{(T) 6} From the time I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until today I have not lived in a house; instead, I have been moving around with a tent as My dwelling.^{(U) 7} In all My journeys with all the Israelites, have I ever asked anyone among the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people Israel: Why haven’t you built Me a house of cedar?’

⁸ “Now this is what you are to say to My servant David: ‘This is what the Lord of Hosts says: I took you from the pasture and from following the sheep to be ruler over My people Israel.^{(V) 9} I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies before you. I will make a name for you like that of the greatest in the land.^{(W) 10} I will establish a place for My people Israel and plant them,^(X) so that they may live there and not be disturbed again. Evildoers will not afflict them as they have done ¹¹ ever since the day I ordered judges to be over My people Israel.^(Y) I will give you rest from all your enemies.

“‘The Lord declares to you: The Lord Himself will make a house for you. ¹² When your time comes and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up after you your descendant, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.^{(Z) 13} He will build a house for My name,^(AA) and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.^{(AB) 14} I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to Me.^(AC) When he does wrong, I will discipline him with a human rod and with blows from others. ¹⁵ But My faithful love will never leave him^(AD) as I removed it from Saul; I removed him from your way.^{(AE) 16} Your house and kingdom will endure before Me^[j] forever,^(AF) and your throne will be established forever.’”^(AG)

¹⁷ Nathan spoke all these words and this entire vision to David.

David’s Prayer of Thanksgiving

¹⁸ Then King David went in,^(AH) sat in the Lord’s presence, and said,