1 Chronicles 15

1 And he made him houses, in the city of David, —and prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent.

Once David had finished building houses for himself in the City of David, he made a place for the Ark of God and set up a tent there.

2 Then, said David, None must carry the ark of God, save the Levites, —for, of them, did Yahweh make choice, to bear the ark of Yahweh, and to attend it, unto times age-abiding.

Then he gave orders: “Nobody is to carry the Ark of God except the Levites, for the Lord himself chose them to carry the Ark of the Lord and to serve him forever.”

3 So David convoked all Israel, unto Jerusalem, —to bring up the ark of Yahweh, unto the place thereof, which he had prepared for it.

David summoned all of Israel to Jerusalem to bring the Ark of the Lord to the place he'd prepared for it.

4 And David gathered together the sons of Aaron, and the Levites:

This is the list of the Levites, the sons of Aaron, that David called to attend:

5 Of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, and his brethren, one hundred and twenty;

From the sons of Kohath, Uriel (chief), and 120 of his relatives;

6 of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, and his brethren, two hundred and twenty;

from the sons of Merari, Asaiah (chief), with 220 of his relatives;

7 of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, and his brethren, one hundred and thirty;

from the sons of Gershom, Joel (chief), with 130 of his relatives;

8 of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, and his brethren, two hundred;

from the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah (chief), with 200 of his relatives;

9 of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief, and his brethren, eighty;

from the sons of Hebron, Eliel (chief), with 80 of his relatives;

10 of the son of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, and his brethren, a hundred and twelve.

from the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab (chief), with 112 of his relatives.

11 Then called David, for Zadok and for Abiathar, the priests, —and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah and Joel, Shemaiah and Eliel, and Amminadab;

Then David summoned the priests Zadok and Abiathar, and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab.

12 and said unto them, Ye, are the chiefs of the fathers of the Levites, —Hallow yourselves, ye and your brethren, so shall ye bring up the ark of Yahweh—God of Israel, into [the place] I have prepared for it.

He told them, “You are the heads of the Levite families. You must make yourselves and your relatives ceremonially clean and pure before you bring back the Ark of God, the Lord of Israel to the place I have made for it.

13 Because, at the first, ye, did not [bring it], Yahweh our God brake forth against us, because we sought him not in the appointed way.

Because you weren't there the first time to carry the Ark the Lord our God burst out in violence against us. We didn't treat it in accordance with his instructions.”

14 So the priests and the Levites hallowed themselves, —to bring up the ark of Yahweh, God of Israel.

So the priests and the Levites purified themselves so that they could bring back the Ark of the Lord, the God of Israel.

15 And the sons of the Levites bare the ark of God, just as Moses commanded, according to the word of Yahweh, —on their shoulder, with the staves upon them.

Then the Levites carried the Ark of God in the way that Moses had ordered, according to what God had said—on their shoulders using the special carrying poles.

16 And David spake to the chiefs of the Levites, to station their brethren the singers, with instruments of song, harps and lyres, and cymbals, —sounding aloud at the lifting up of the voice, for joy.

David also instructed the leaders of the Levites to assign from their relatives singers who would sing loudly for joy, accompanied by musicians playing lyres, and harps, and cymbals.

17 So the Levites caused to stand, Heman son of Joel, and, of his brethren, Asaph, son of Berechiah, —and, of the sons of Merari their brethren, Ethan, son of Kushaiah;

So the Levites assigned Heman the son of Joel; and from his relatives Asaph the son of Berechiah; and from the sons of Merari, their relatives, Ethan the son of Kushaiah.

18 and, with them, their brethren of the second degree, —Zechariah, Ben, and Jaaziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel and Unni, Eliab, and Benaiah, and Maaseiah, and Mattithiah, and Eliphelehu, and Mickneiah, and Obed-edom and Jeiel, the door-keepers.

The second group of Levites consisted of Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah; and the gatekeepers Obed-edom and Jeiel.

19 And, the singers, Heman, Asaph and Ethan, with cymbals of bronze, were to sound aloud;

The musicians Heman, Asaph, and Ethan were to strike the bronze cymbals;

20 and Zechariah, and Aziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, and Eliab, and Maaseiah and Benaiah, —with harps, over the trebles;

Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah were to play harps “according to alamoth,”

21 and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel and Azaziah, —with lyres over the bass, to take the lead.

while Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were to lead the music with lyres “according to sheminith.”

22 And, Chenaniah the leader of the Levites, in the service, used to give instructions in the service, because skilful was he.

Kenaniah, the leader of the Levites in singing, was chosen to lead the music because of his ability.

23 And, Berechiah and Elkanah, were door-keepers to the ark.

Berechiah and Elkanah were appointed to guard the Ark.

24 And, Shebaniah, and Joshaphat, and Nethanel, and Amasai, and Zechariah, and Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, were blowing with the trumpets, before the ark of God, —and, Obed-edom and Jehiah, were door-keepers, to the ark.

Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer the priests were to blow the trumpets in front of the Ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah were also appointed to guard the Ark.

25 Thus, it was, David and the elders of Israel, and the rulers of thousands, who were going, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, out of the house of Obed-edom, with joy.

Then David, the elders of Israel, and the senior army commanders, went with great celebration to bring back the Ark of the Lord's Agreement from the home of Obed-Edom.

26 And so it was that, when God helped the Levites, who were bearing the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, they sacrificed seven bullocks and seven rams.

Because God helped the Levites who carried the Ark of the Lord's Agreement, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.

27 Now, David, was wrapped about with a robe of byssus, with all the Levites who were bearing the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the leader of the service rendered by the singers, —but, upon David, was an ephod of white linen.

David wore a robe of fine linen like all the Levites who were carrying the Ark, and the singers and Kenaniah the leader of the music and singers. David also wore a linen ephod.

28 So, all Israel, were bringing up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, with shouting, and with sound of the horn, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, —sounding aloud, with harps, and lyres.

So all of Israel brought back the Ark of the Lord's Agreement with a lot of shouting, accompanied by horns, trumpets, and cymbals, and music played on harps and lyres.

29 And so it was that, when the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came in as far as the city of David, —and Michal daughter of Saul looked forth through the window, and saw King David, dancing and playing, that she despised him in her heart.

But as Ark of the Lord's Agreement entered the City of David, Saul's daughter Michal looked down from a window. Seeing David the king jumping and dancing for joy, she was full of contempt for him.