1 Chronicles 15

1 And [David] 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 David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the LORD chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister to him for ever.

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 And David assembled all Israel to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the LORD to its place, 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 assembled the children 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 a 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 a 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 sons 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 And David called for Zadok and 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 to them, Ye [are] the chief of the fathers of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, [both] ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel to [the place that] 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 For because ye [did it] not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order.

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 sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD 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 children of the Levites bore the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staffs on it, as Moses commanded, according to the word of the LORD.

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 spoke to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren [to be] the singers with instruments of music, psalteries, and harps, and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with 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 appointed Heman the son of Joel; and of his brethren, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari their brethren, Ethan the 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 Elipheleh, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, the porters.

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 So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, [were appointed] to sound with cymbals of brass;

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 psalteries on Alamoth;

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

21 And Mattithiah, and Elipheleh, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps on the Sheminith to excel.

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

22 And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, [was] for song: he instructed about the song, because he [was] skillful.

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 for the ark.

Berechiah and Elkanah were appointed to guard the Ark.

24 And Shebaniah, and Jehoshaphat, and Nethaneel, and Amasai, and Zechariah, and Benaiah, and Eliezer the priests, did blow with the trumpets before the ark of God: and Obed-edom and Jehiah [were] door-keepers for 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 So David and 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.

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 it came to pass, when God helped the Levites that bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that they offered 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 And David [was] clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that bore the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song with the singers: David also [had] upon him an ephod of 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 Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, making a noise with psalteries and harps.

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 it came to pass, [as] the ark of the covenant of the LORD came to the city of David, that Michal the daughter of Saul, looking out at a window, saw king David dancing and playing: and 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.