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1 Chronicles

Bringing the Ark: Preparations and Uzzah’s Death

13
Chapter 13
1 And David consulted with the captains of the thousands and the hundreds, and every leader. 2 And David said to all the assembly of Israel, "If it seems good to you and from the LORD our God, let us break through; let us be sent upon our brothers, the ones remaining in all the lands of Israel, and with them the priests and the Levites in their pastureland cities, and they will gather to us." 3 Let us bring back the ark of our God to us, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul. 4 And all the assembly agreed to do so, for the matter was upright in the eyes of all the people. 5 And David assembled all Israel from Shihor of Egypt as far as the entrance of Hamath, to bring the Ark of God from Kiriath-jearim. 6 David went up, and all Israel with him, to Kiriath-jearim, which is in Judah, to bring up from there the Ark of the Covenant of God, the LORD who sits on the cherubim, which is called by name. 7 They mounted the Ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and his brothers drove the cart. 8 And David and all Israel were playing before God with all their strength, with songs and with harps and with lyres and with tambourines and with cymbals and with trumpets. 9 They came as far as Goren Kidan, and Uzza reached out his hand to grasp the Ark of the Covenant, for the oxen stumbled. 10 The anger of the LORD burned against Uzzah, and He struck him because he had put out his hand against the Ark of the Covenant, and he died there before God. 11 And it burned David because the LORD had broken through a breach against Uzzah, and he called that place Perez-Uzzah to this day. 12 And David feared God that day, saying, "How shall I bring the ark of God to me?" 13 And David did not take the Ark of the Covenant to him in the City of David, but he took it to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. 14 And the Ark of God stayed in the house of Obed-Edom in his house for three months, and the LORD blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that he had.