The Ark of the Testimony^(A)

^10 (B)“And they shall make an ark of acacia wood; two and a half cubits shall be its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height. ¹¹ And you shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and shall make on it a molding of ^(C)gold all around. ¹² You shall cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in its four corners; two rings shall be on one side, and two rings on the other side. ¹³ And you shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. ¹⁴ You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, that the ark may be carried by them. ^15 (D)The poles shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. ¹⁶ And you shall put into the ark ^(E)the Testimony which I will give you.

^17 (F)“You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold; two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width. ¹⁸ And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. ¹⁹ Make one cherub at one end, and the other cherub at the other end; you shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it of one piece with the mercy seat. ²⁰ And ^(G)the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and they shall face one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. ^21 (H)You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and ^(I)in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. ²² And ^(J)there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from ^(K)between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.

² And ^(A)David arose and went with all the people who were with him from ^[a]Baale Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, whose name is called ^[b]by the Name, the Lord of Hosts, ^(B)who dwells between the cherubim. ³ So they set the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on ^(C)the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new ^[c]cart. ⁴ And they brought it out of ^(D)the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill, accompanying the ark of God; and Ahio went before the ark. ⁵ Then David and all the house of Israel ^(E)played music before the Lord on all kinds of instruments of fir wood, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on sistrums, and on cymbals.

⁶ And when they came to ^(F)Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put out his ^(G)hand to the ark of God and ^[d]took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. ⁷ Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his ^[e]error; and he died there by the ark of God. ⁸ And David became angry because of the Lord’s outbreak against Uzzah; and he called the name of the place ^[f]Perez Uzzah to this day.

^9 (H)David was afraid of the Lord that day; and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” ¹⁰ So David would not move the ark of the Lord with him into the ^(I)City of David; but David took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the ^(J)Gittite. ^11 (K)The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months. And the Lord ^(L)blessed Obed-Edom and all his household.

¹² Now it was told King David, saying, “The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” ^(M)So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with gladness. ¹³ And so it was, when ^(N)those bearing the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, that he sacrificed ^(O)oxen and fatted sheep. ¹⁴ Then David ^(P)danced^[g] before the Lord with all his might; and David was wearing ^(Q)a linen ephod. ^15 (R)So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.

¹⁶ Now as the ark of the Lord came into the City of David, ^(S)Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart. ¹⁷ So ^(T)they brought the ark of the Lord, and set it in ^(U)its place in the midst of the tabernacle that David had erected for it. Then David ^(V)offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

²⁵ So ^(A)David, the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the house of Obed-Edom with joy. ²⁶ And so it was, when God helped the Levites who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, that they offered seven bulls and seven rams. ²⁷ David was clothed with a robe of fine ^(B)linen, as were all the Levites who bore the ark, the singers, and Chenaniah the music master with the singers. David also wore a linen ephod. ^28 (C)Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the horn, with trumpets and with cymbals, making music with stringed instruments and harps.

²⁹ And it happened, ^(D)as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the City of David, that Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David whirling and playing music; and she despised him in her heart.

The Ark Placed in the Tabernacle^(E)

16 So ^(F)they brought the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tabernacle that David had erected for it. Then they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God.