So they sent messengers to the residents of Kiriath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down here and take it back home with you.”

It was quite a long time – some twenty years in all – that the ark stayed at Kiriath Jearim. All the people ¹  of Israel longed for ²  the Lord.

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

When they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacon, ¹  Uzzah reached out and grabbed hold of ²  the ark of God, ³  because the oxen stumbled.

So David was no longer willing to bring the ark of the Lord to be with him in the City of David. David left it in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.

The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months. The Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his family. ¹ 

They brought the ark of the Lord and put it in its place ¹  in the middle of the tent that David had pitched for it. Then David offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings before the Lord.

The king said to Nathan the prophet, “Look! I am living in a palace made from cedar, while the ark of God sits in the middle of a tent.”

The priests and Levites carried the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, ¹  and all the holy items in the tent. ² 

Now King Solomon and all the Israelites who had assembled with him went on ahead of the ark and sacrificed more sheep and cattle than could be counted or numbered. ¹ 

The priests brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to its assigned ¹  place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, in the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubs.

There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets Moses had placed there in Horeb. ¹  It was there that ²  the Lord made an agreement with the Israelites after he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

and set up in it a place for the ark containing the covenant the Lord made with our ancestors ¹  when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.”

These are the men David put in charge of music in the Lord’s sanctuary, ¹  after the ark was placed there.

Let’s move the ark of our God back here, ¹  for we did not seek his will ²  throughout Saul’s reign.” ³ 

So David assembled all Israel from the Shihor River ¹  in Egypt to Lebo Hamath, ²  to bring the ark of God from Kiriath Jearim.

When they arrived at the threshing floor of Kidon, Uzzah reached out his hand to take hold of ¹  the ark, because the oxen stumbled.

The Lord was so furious with Uzzah, ¹  he killed him, because he reached out his hand and touched the ark. ²  He died right there before God. ³ 

So David did not move the ark to the City of David; ¹  he left it in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.

The ark of God remained in Obed-Edom’s house for three months; the Lord blessed Obed-Edom’s family and everything that belonged to him.