1 Chronicles 13

²⁹Then the king summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

³⁰And he went up to the house of the Lord with all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, as well as the priests and the Levites—all the people great and small—and in their hearing he read all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord.

²⁰Early the next morning King Hezekiah gathered the city officials and went up to the house of the Lord.

²⁰When David went to Ziklag, these men of Manasseh defected to him: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, chiefs of thousands in Manasseh.

¹Then the king summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

³²From Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do: 200 chiefs with all their kinsmen at their command.

¹David again assembled the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand in all.

¹Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa.

⁴This service of the Kohathites at the Tent of Meeting regards the most holy things.

⁵Whenever the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons are to go in, take down the veil of the curtain, and cover the ark of the Testimony with it.

⁷When all the Israelites in the valley saw that the army had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their cities and ran away. So the Philistines came and occupied their cities.

⁷They replied, “If you will be a servant to these people and serve them this day, and if you will respond by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.”

¹⁵but King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he had suffered at the hands of the Arameans in the battle against Hazael their king.) So Jehu said, “If you commanders wish to make me king, then do not let anyone escape from the city to go and tell it in Jezreel.”

²³If you follow this advice and God so directs you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people can go home in peace.”

¹Then the men of Kiriath-jearim came for the ark of the Lord and took it into Abinadab’s house on the hill. And they consecrated his son Eleazar to guard the ark of the Lord.

²And from that day a long time passed, twenty years in all, as the ark remained at Kiriath-jearim. And all the house of Israel mournfully sought the Lord.

²So David inquired of the Lord, “Should I go and attack these Philistines?” And the Lord said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah.”

¹⁸Then Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring the ark of God.” (For at that time it was with the Israelites.)

³⁶And Saul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them until dawn, leaving no man alive!” “Do what seems good to you,” the troops replied. But the priest said, “We must consult God here.”

⁶We heard that the ark was in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of Jaar.

⁹When David learned that Saul was plotting evil against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.”

¹⁰And David said, “O Lord, God of Israel, Your servant has heard that Saul intends to come to Keilah and destroy the city on my account.

³⁶All the people took note and were pleased. In fact, everything the king did pleased them.

⁴This plan pleased the king and the whole assembly.

²⁰Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David, and when this was reported to Saul, it pleased him.

⁵“If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if I have found favor in his sight, and the matter seems proper to the king, and I am pleasing in his sight, may an order be written to revoke the letters that the scheming Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces.

²¹So they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up with you.”

⁶⁵So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him—a great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt—kept the feast before the Lord our God for seven days and seven more days—fourteen days in all.

¹David again assembled the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand in all.

³And David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord to the place he had prepared for it.

²¹There at Riblah in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death. So Judah was taken into exile, away from its own land.

⁶David 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.

⁹From the hilltop the border curved to the spring of the Waters of Nephtoah, proceeded to the cities of Mount Ephron, and then bent around toward Baalah (that is, Kiriath-jearim).

¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord: “O Lord, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.

²²And I will meet with you there above the mercy seat, between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony; I will speak with you about all that I command you regarding the Israelites.

²And he and all his troops set out for Baale of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name—the name of the Lord of Hosts, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on it.

³They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart,

⁶⁰Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), and Rabbah—two cities, along with their villages.

⁴So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the Lord of Hosts, who sits enthroned between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

¹⁵When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all their equipment, as soon as the camp is ready to move, the Kohathites shall come and do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy objects, or they will die. These are the transportation duties of the Kohathites regarding the Tent of Meeting.

⁷Now, therefore, prepare one new cart with two milk cows that have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up.

²Then David said, “No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, because the Lord has chosen them to carry the ark of the Lord and to minister before Him forever.”

¹³It was because you Levites were not with us the first time that the Lord our God burst forth in anger against us. For we did not consult Him about the proper order.”

³They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart,

¹Then the men of Kiriath-jearim came for the ark of the Lord and took it into Abinadab’s house on the hill. And they consecrated his son Eleazar to guard the ark of the Lord.

²And from that day a long time passed, twenty years in all, as the ark remained at Kiriath-jearim. And all the house of Israel mournfully sought the Lord.

⁵David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with all kinds of wood instruments, harps, stringed instruments, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals.

⁶When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen had stumbled.

³Praise Him with the sound of the horn; praise Him with the harp and lyre.

⁴Praise Him with tambourine and dancing; praise Him with strings and flute.

¹⁵But now, bring me a harpist.” And while the harpist played, the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha

²⁸So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, with the sounding of rams’ horns and trumpets, and with cymbals and the music of harps and lyres.

¹Additionally, David and the commanders of the army set apart some of the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun to prophesy with the accompaniment of lyres, harps, and cymbals. The following is the list of the men who performed this service:

²From the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asarelah. These sons of Asaph were under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied under the direction of the king.

¹⁰and from the Uzzielites, Amminadab the chief and 112 of his relatives.

¹¹David summoned the priests Zadok and Abiathar and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab.

⁶When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen had stumbled.

¹⁵And the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the Lord.

¹³It was because you Levites were not with us the first time that the Lord our God burst forth in anger against us. For we did not consult Him about the proper order.”

¹⁵When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all their equipment, as soon as the camp is ready to move, the Kohathites shall come and do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy objects, or they will die. These are the transportation duties of the Kohathites regarding the Tent of Meeting.

¹⁹But God struck down some of the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the Lord. He struck down seventy men, and the people mourned because the Lord had struck them with a great slaughter.

¹Now Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense, and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to His command.

²So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died in the presence of the Lord.

³⁰That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

³¹Now if we judged ourselves properly, we would not come under judgment.

⁷And the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down on the spot for his irreverence, and he died there beside the ark of God.

⁹That day David feared the Lord and asked, “How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?”

⁶And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab facing Beth-peor, and no one to this day knows the location of his grave.

³²Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was struck near that tendon.

⁴But the Lord replied, “Have you any right to be angry?”

⁹Then God asked Jonah, “Have you any right to be angry about the plant?” “I do,” he replied. “I am angry enough to die!”

¹²⁰My flesh trembles in awe of You; I stand in fear of Your judgments.

⁵If even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in His sight,

⁶how much less man, who is but a maggot, and the son of man, who is but a worm!”

¹⁰So they sent the ark of God to Ekron, but as it arrived, the Ekronites cried out, “They have brought us the ark of the God of Israel in order to kill us and our people!”

¹¹Then the Ekronites called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel. It must return to its place, so that it will not kill us and our people!” For a deadly confusion had pervaded the city; the hand of God was very heavy upon it.

²⁷But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.

²⁰The men of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God? To whom should the ark go up from here?”

¹²Then the Israelites declared to Moses, “Look, we are perishing! We are lost; we are all lost!

¹³Anyone who comes near the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all going to perish?”

¹⁸and with them their brothers next in rank: Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, and the gatekeepers Obed-edom and Jeiel.

⁴And Obed-edom also had sons: Shemaiah the firstborn, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, Sachar the fourth, Nethanel the fifth,

¹⁰So he was unwilling to move the ark of the Lord to the City of David; instead, he took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

¹¹Thus the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed him and all his household.

⁸All these were descendants of Obed-edom; they and their sons and brothers were capable men with strength to do the work—62 in all from Obed-edom.

³because the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have lived there as foreigners to this day.

⁵Asaph was the chief, Zechariah was second, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel. They were to play the harps and lyres, while Asaph sounded the cymbals

⁴And Obed-edom also had sons: Shemaiah the firstborn, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, Sachar the fourth, Nethanel the fifth,

⁵Ammiel the sixth, Issachar the seventh, and Peullethai the eighth. For God had blessed Obed-edom.

²²The blessing of the Lord enriches, and He adds no sorrow to it.

⁹Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your crops;

¹⁰then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

²⁷But Laban replied, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you.”

¹⁰Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the Lord of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure.

¹¹I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your land, and the vine in your field will not fail to produce fruit,” says the Lord of Hosts.

⁵From the time that he put Joseph in charge of his household and all he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s household on account of him. The Lord’s blessing was on everything he owned, both in his house and in his field.