1 ARST One day David talked with all his army officers. Some of them were commanders of 100 soldiers and some were commanders of 1, 000 soldiers. BSB BSB: Then David conferred with all his leaders, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds.
2 ARST Then David summoned the other Israelite leaders and said to all of them,“If you think it is a good idea, and if it is what Yahweh our God wants, let us send a message to our fellow Israelites throughout our country, including the priests and descendants of Levi who are living among them in their towns and in the nearby pasturelands, to come and join us. BSB BSB: And he said to the whole assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if this is of the LORD our God, let us send word far and wide to the rest of our brothers in all the land of Israel, and also to the priests and Levites in their cities and pasturelands, so that they may join us.
3 ARST Let us bring the sacred chest of our God back to us since we did not ask God what he wanted us to do while Saul was the king.” BSB BSB: Then let us bring back the ark of our God, for we did not inquire of Him in the days of Saul.”
4 ARST All the people agreed with David to send the messages and bring back the sacred chest because they all thought that it was the right thing to do. BSB BSB: And because this proposal seemed right to all the people, the whole assembly agreed to it.
5 ARST So David gathered all the Israelite people, from the Shihor River in Egypt to the city of Lebo Hamath in the north, and told them that he wanted them to help bring the sacred chest of God back to Jerusalem from the city of Kiriath Jearim. BSB BSB: So David assembled all Israel, from the River Shihor in Egypt to Lebo-hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim.
6 ARST David went with all the Israelite people to the city of Baalah, which is another name for Kiriath Jearim, to get from that city the sacred chest of God, Yahweh.(Baalah was located in the land belonging to the tribe of Judah). The people believed that God sat like a king on a throne between the statues of winged creatures that was above the lid of the sacred chest. The sacred chest belonged to Yahweh. BSB BSB: David and all Israel went up to Baalah of Judah (that is, Kiriath-jearim) to bring up from there the ark of God the LORD, who is enthroned between the cherubim—the ark that is called by the Name.
7 ARST The people put the sacred chest of God on a new cart and took it from Abinadab’ s house. Uzzah and Ahio were guiding the oxen that were pulling the cart. BSB BSB: So they carried the ark of God from the house of Abinadab on a new cart, with Uzzah and Ahio guiding the cart.
8 ARST David and all the Israelite people celebrated with all their strength all around the cart carrying the sacred chest. They were singing, playing lyres, harps, tambourines, and cymbals, and blowing trumpets. BSB BSB: David and all the Israelites were celebrating before God with all their might, with songs and on harps and lyres, with tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets.
9 ARST However, when the people and the cart came to the place where Kidon threshed grain, the oxen stumbled. So Uzzah reached out with his hand to prevent the sacred chest from falling off the cart. BSB BSB: When they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark, because the oxen had stumbled.
11 ARST David was angry because Yahweh inflicted punishment on Uzzah. David called that place where Uzzah died“The Punishment of Uzzah”(which has continued to be its nickname until the writing of this document). BSB BSB: Then David became angry because the LORD had burst forth against Uzzah. So he named that place Perez-uzzah, as it is called to this day.
12 ARST That day, David was afraid of God. He thought to himself,“{ Since God is angry with me,} I cannot bring God’ s sacred chest to my city.” BSB BSB: That day David feared God and asked, “How can I ever bring the ark of God to me?”
13 ARST So David and the people did not take the sacred chest to the portion of Jerusalem named the City of David. Instead, they took it to Obed Edom’ s house, who was from the city of Gath. BSB BSB: So he did not move the ark with him to the City of David; instead, he took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
14 ARST The sacred chest of God stayed with Obed Edom’ s family in his house for three months. During that time Yahweh blessed Obed Edom’ s family and everything that Obed Edom owned. BSB BSB: Thus the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house for three months, and the LORD blessed his household and everything he owned.
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