The Covenant Box Is Moved from Kiriath Jearim

(2 Samuel 6.1-11)

1King David consulted with all the officers in command of units of a thousand men and units of a hundred men. 2Then he announced to all the people of Israel, “If you give your approval and if it is the will of the Lord our God, let us send messengers to the rest of our people and to the priests and Levites in their towns, and tell them to assemble here with us. 3Then we will go and get God's Covenant Box, which was ignored while Saul was king.” 4The people were pleased with the suggestion and agreed to it.

5 So David assembled the people of Israel from all over the country, from the Egyptian border in the south to Hamath Pass in the north, in order to bring the Covenant Box from Kiriath Jearim to Jerusalem. 6 David and the people went to the city of Baalah, that is, to Kiriath Jearim, in the territory of Judah, to get the Covenant Box of God, which bears the name of the Lord enthroned above the winged creatures. 7At Abinadab's house they brought out the Covenant Box and put it on a new cart. Uzzah and Ahio guided the cart, 8while David and all the people danced with all their might to honor God. They sang and played musical instruments—harps, drums, cymbals, and trumpets.

9As they came to the threshing place of Chidon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out and took hold of the Covenant Box. 10At once the Lord became angry with Uzzah and killed him for touching the Box. He died there in God's presence, 11and so that place has been called Perez Uzzah+ ever since. David was furious because the Lord had punished Uzzah in anger.

12 Then David was afraid of God and said, “How can I take the Covenant Box with me now?” 13So David did not take it with him to Jerusalem. Instead, he left it at the house of a man named Obed Edom, a native of the city of Gath. 14 It stayed there three months, and the Lord blessed Obed Edom's family and everything that belonged to him.