1 Chronicles 15:1-24

The Ark Brought to Jerusalem

15¹ And he made him houses in the city of David, and prepared a place for the ark of God, and spread a tent for it. ² Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites, for them has Jehovah chosen to carry the ark of God, and to serve him for ever. ³ And David assembled all Israel to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of Jehovah to its place that he had prepared for it. ⁴ And David gathered the sons of Aaron and the Levites: ⁵ of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, and his brethren a hundred and twenty; ⁶ of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, and his brethren two hundred and twenty; ⁷ of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, and his brethren a hundred and thirty; ⁸ of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, and his brethren two hundred; ⁹ of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief, and his brethren eighty; ¹⁰ of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, and his brethren a hundred and twelve. ¹¹ And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab; ¹² and he said to them, Ye are the chief fathers of the Levites; hallow yourselves, ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of Jehovah the God of Israel to [the place that] I have prepared for it. ¹³ For because ye did [it] not at the first, Jehovah our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order. ¹⁴ So the priests and the Levites hallowed themselves to bring up the ark of Jehovah the God of Israel. ¹⁵ And the children of the Levites bore the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves upon them, as Moses had commanded according to the word of Jehovah. ¹⁶ And David spoke to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren, the singers, with instruments of music, lutes, and harps, and cymbals, that they should sound aloud, lifting up the voice with joy. ¹⁷ And 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; ¹⁸ and with them their brethren of the second [rank], 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 doorkeepers; ¹⁹ and the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, to sound aloud with cymbals of brass; ²⁰ and Zechariah, and Aziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, and Eliab, and Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with lutes on Alamoth; ²¹ and Mattithiah, and Elipheleh, and Mikneiah, and Obed-Edom and Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps on the Sheminith to lead [the singing]. ²² And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites for the music, gave instruction in music, for he was skilful. ²³ And Berechiah and Elkanah were doorkeepers for the ark. ²⁴ And Shebaniah, and Jehoshaphat, and Nethaneel, and Amasai, and Zechariah, and Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, blew with the trumpets before the ark of God; and Obed-Edom and Jehijah were doorkeepers for the ark.