2 Samuel 6

1 And David again gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.

Then David chose 30,000 Israeli men and gathered them together.

2 And David arose, and went with all the people who were with him to Baalah, that is, Kiriath Jearim of Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called there by the name of the LORD enthroned on the cherubim.

He led them to the place in Judah [formerly] called Baalah, [now called Kiriath-Jearim]. They went in order to bring from there [to Jerusalem] the sacred chest, which had the name of Yahweh, the leader of the armies of [the angels in] heaven, written on it, and which had the [statues of the] winged creatures on top of it. Between those statues was where Yahweh spoke messages about ruling his people [MTY].

3 And they set the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was on the hill. And Uzza and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, guided the cart

The sacred chest was in the house of Abinadab, on top of a hill. They went there, and they put the chest on a new cart. Uzzah and Ahio, the two sons of Abinadab, were guiding [the oxen that were pulling the cart].

4 with the ark; and Ahio was walking in front of the ark.

Uzzah walked alongside the cart, and Ahio walked in front of it.

5 And David and the children of Israel played before the LORD with all their strength and with songs, and with harps, and with stringed instruments, and with tambourines, and with castanets, and with cymbals.

David and all the Israeli men were celebrating in God’s presence, singing with all their strength and [playing] lyres and harps, and beating tambourines, and clashing castanets and cymbals.

6 And when they came to the threshing floor of Nodan, Uzza reached out his hand to the ark of God, to steady it; for the oxen stumbled.

But when they came to the place where Nacon threshed grain, the oxen stumbled. So Uzzah put his hand on the sacred chest to (steady it/prevent it from falling [off the cart]).

7 And the LORD became angry at Uzza; and God struck him there for his error; and there he died before God.

Yahweh immediately became very angry with Uzzah, and he killed him right there alongside the sacred chest, because he had touched the chest, [and Yahweh had commanded that only the descendants of Levi who help the priests should touch the sacred chest].

8 And David was displeased, because the LORD had broken forth on Uzza; and he called that place Perez Uzza, to this day.

David was angry because Yahweh had punished Uzzah. So ever since that time, that place has been called ‘The Punishment of Uzzah’.

9 And David was afraid of the LORD that day; and he said, "How can the ark of God come to me?" Now the ark of the LORD arrived,

David was [also] afraid of [what else] Yahweh [would do to punish them], so he said, “(How can I take the sacred chest with me [to Jerusalem]?/I am afraid to take the sacred chest with me [to Jerusalem].)” [RHQ]

10 but David was not willing to move the ark of the LORD with him to the City of David; so David diverted it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.

So he did not want to take the sacred chest to Jerusalem. Instead, they took it to another place; they took it to the house of Obed-Edom, from Gath [city].

11 And the ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-Edom and all his house.

They left the sacred chest in the house of Obed-Edom for three months, and [during that time] Yahweh blessed Obed-Edom and his family.

12 And 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." And David said, "I will bring back the blessing to my house." And David went and brought up the ark of the LORD from the house of Obed-Edom into the City of David with joy.

Later, people told David, “Yahweh has blessed Obed-Edom and his family because [he is taking care] of the sacred chest!” When David heard that, he [and some other men] went to Obed-Edom’s house, and very joyfully brought the sacred chest from there to Jerusalem.

13 And it was so, that, when those who bore the ark had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf.

[This time, descendants of Levi] were carrying the sacred chest, but when they had walked only six steps, they stopped, and there David killed a bull and a fat calf, and offered them to Yahweh for a sacrifice.

14 And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and he was clothed in a linen ephod.

David was wearing [only] a linen cloth wrapped around his waist, and was dancing very energetically to honor Yahweh.

15 And David and all Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.

David and the Israeli men took the sacred chest up [to Jerusalem], shouting [loudly] and blowing trumpets.

16 Now, as the ark entered the City of David, Mikal the daughter of Saul looked out at the window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart.

While they were carrying the sacred chest into the city, [David’s wife] Michal, who was Saul’s daughter, looked out the window [of her house]. She saw King David leaping and dancing to honor Yahweh. So she was disgusted with him.

17 And they brought in the ark of the LORD, and set it in its place, in the midst of the tent that David had set up for it; and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.

They brought the sacred chest into the tent that David had erected for it. Then David gave to Yahweh offerings to be completely burned [on an altar], and other offerings to maintain fellowship with Yahweh.

18 And when David had made an end of offering the burnt offering and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts.

When David had finished offering those sacrifices, he asked Yahweh, the Commander of the armies [of the angels], to bless the people.

19 And he gave to all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, both to men and women, to everyone a portion of bread, a date cake, and a raisin cake. So all the people departed everyone to his house.

He also distributed food to all the people. To each Israeli man and woman he gave a loaf of bread, some meat, and a raisin cake. Then all the people returned to their homes.

20 And then David returned to bless his household. Mikal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David. And she greeted him, and said, "How glorious the king of Israel was today, who uncovered himself today in the eyes of the servants of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovers himself."

When David went home to [ask Yahweh to] bless his family, his wife Michal came out to meet him. She said to him, “Maybe you, the king of Israel, [think that you] [IRO] were honoring yourself today, but really, you acted like a fool, uncovering yourself while the female servants of your officials were watching!”

21 And David said to Mikal, "I was dancing before the LORD. Blessed be the LORD, who chose me above your father, and above all his house, to appoint me prince over his people Israel; therefore I will celebrate before the LORD.

David replied to Michal, “[I was doing that] to honor Yahweh, who chose me instead of your father and other members of his family, to be the king of the Israeli people, the people who belong to Yahweh. And I will [continue to] dance to honor Yahweh!

22 And I will be yet more vile than this, and will be lowly in your eyes. But of the servants of whom you have spoken, they shall honor me."

[Even though you think that what I did] was disgraceful, I will continue to do it even more. You may despise me [because of what I did], but the women whom you were talking about will honor me!”

23 And Mikal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.

[As a result, ] Saul’s daughter Michal never gave birth to any children.