2 Samuel 6

David again gathered all the chosen fighting men of Israel, thirty thousand of them.

1Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.

Note"Chosen men" translates a Hebrew military term for picked troops. The number is thirty thousand as the text stands; the Hebrew word for "thousand" (elef) can also mean a clan-sized military unit, so some readers understand it as thirty contingents.

2Then David set out with all the people who were with him. They went from Baale of Judah to bring back the ark of God from there. The ark is called by the name of the LORD of Hosts, the LORD who commands armies, who sits enthroned between the winged figures called cherubim.

2And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the LORD of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims.

NoteThe ark of God was a portable chest of acacia wood plated with gold, roughly four feet long, fitted with rings and carrying poles, holding the stone tablets of the covenant. It was the most sacred object Israel owned and was treated as the spot where the LORD's presence rested among the people. The Philistines had captured it in battle a generation earlier and sent it back; since then it had sat in a private house, out of use, for about twenty years. Baale of Judah is another name for Kiriath-jearim, a town about nine miles west of Jerusalem. "LORD" printed in capitals stands for the personal name of Israel's God (the four Hebrew letters YHWH), which readers of the Hebrew did not pronounce aloud. The cherubim were not babies with wings but large winged composite creatures; two of them, worked in gold, faced each other on the lid of the ark, and the space between them was pictured as an empty throne.

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

3And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart.

NoteThe Hebrew has a pun that cannot be carried over: gib'ah means both "hill" and the place-name Gibeah, so the phrase can be read "which was on the hill" or "which was in Gibeah." A cart was how the Philistines had shipped the ark back years before; Israel's own instructions were that Levites carry it by the poles on their shoulders, which is what happens later in this chapter at verse 13.

4They brought it out of Abinadab's house in Gibeah, going along with the ark of God, and Ahio walked in front of the ark.

4And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark.

5David and everyone in Israel celebrated before the LORD with all kinds of instruments made of pine wood, along with harps, other stringed instruments, tambourines, rattles, and cymbals.

5And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals.

6When they came to the threshing floor of Nachon, the oxen stumbled and shook the ark. Uzzah reached out his hand and took hold of the ark of God.

6And when they came to Nachon’s threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it.

NoteA threshing floor was a flat, hard, open patch of rock or beaten earth, usually on high ground where the wind could catch the chaff, where farmers drove oxen over cut grain to separate it. It was the one wide, level, public space near most villages, so processions and gatherings often happened there.

7The LORD's anger burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down right there for what he had done wrong. He died there beside the ark of God.

7And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "his error" occurs nowhere else and its exact sense is uncertain; suggestions range from "irreverence" to "rashness" to a scribal slip for a word meaning "because he reached out." The text states the death without explaining further.

8David was angry because the LORD had broken out against Uzzah. He named that place Perez-uzzah, which is still its name today.

8And David was displeased, because the LORD had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the place Perezuzzah to this day.

NotePerez-uzzah means "the bursting out against Uzzah." The name repeats the same Hebrew verb used earlier in the verse for the LORD "breaking out", a play on words the English cannot show. "Still its name today" is the narrator speaking to his own readers, centuries before ours.

9That day David was afraid of the LORD. He said, "How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?"

9And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, How shall the ark of the LORD come to me?

10So David was not willing to move the ark of the LORD to be with him in the City of David. Instead he had it taken aside to the house of Obed-edom, a man from Gath.

10So David would not remove the ark of the LORD unto him into the city of David: but David carried it aside into the house of Obededom the Gittite.

NoteThe City of David was the narrow fortified ridge David had recently captured from the Jebusites, at that point the whole of Jerusalem, and much smaller than the later city. Obed-edom is called a Gittite, meaning a man from Gath, one of the five main Philistine cities; his name, however, is Hebrew.

11The ark of the LORD stayed in the house of Obed-edom of Gath for three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom and everyone in his household.

11And the ark of the LORD continued in the house of Obededom the Gittite three months: and the LORD blessed Obededom, and all his household.

12King David was told, "The LORD has blessed the house of Obed-edom and everything he owns, because of the ark of God." So David went and brought the ark of God up from the house of Obed-edom into the City of David, and there was great joy.

12And it was told king David, saying, The LORD hath blessed the house of Obededom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obededom into the city of David with gladness.

13When the men carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, David sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf.

13And it was so, that when they that bare the ark of the LORD had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings.

NoteHere the ark is carried by men rather than hauled on a cart. Sacrificing after only six steps means the offering came at the very start of the procession, not at the end of the journey.

14David danced before the LORD with all his strength, wearing a linen ephod, a simple sleeveless garment worn for worship.

14And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.

NoteThe linen ephod was the plain working garment of a priest, not royal dress, and it was short. David is dressed as a worshiper rather than as a king, which is the background to Michal's complaint in verse 20.

15So David and all the people of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the ram's horn.

15So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.

NoteThe instrument is the shofar, a curved ram's horn that produces a few loud blasts rather than tunes. It was used for signals, alarms and public announcements, not for melody.

16As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal, Saul's daughter, looked down through a window. She saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and inside herself she looked down on him.

16And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal Saul’s daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart.

NoteMichal was Saul's younger daughter and David's first wife. Saul had given her to David, then taken her back and married her to another man while David was a fugitive; David had recently demanded her return. Her being named "Saul's daughter" rather than "David's wife" throughout this scene is deliberate on the narrator's part.

17They brought in the ark of the LORD and set it in its place, inside the tent David had put up for it. Then David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.

17And they brought in the ark of the LORD, and set it in his place, in the midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it: and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.

NoteThis was a tent David had set up in Jerusalem, not the older tabernacle, which was elsewhere. A burnt offering was an animal burned up entirely, nothing kept back. A peace offering (also called a fellowship offering) was different: only part went on the altar, and the rest was cooked and eaten by the worshipers as a shared meal, which is where the food handed out in verse 19 comes from.

18As soon as David finished making the burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of Hosts.

18And as soon as David had made an end of offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts.

NotePronouncing a blessing over the assembly was a formal public act, normally performed by a priest. David does it himself, as he also wears the priestly ephod.

19He handed out food to all the people, the whole crowd of Israel, women as well as men. Each person got a loaf of bread, a good portion of meat, and a cake of raisins. Then all the people went home.

19And he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men, to every one a cake of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine. So all the people departed every one to his house.

NoteThe Hebrew names three items, and two of them are uncertain. The first is clearly a loaf or ring of bread. The second is a word that may mean a portion of meat or a pressed cake of dates. The third, ashishah, is a cake of pressed raisins; the King James translators guessed "a flagon of wine." This is the shared meal from the peace offerings.

20Then David went back to bless his own household. Michal, Saul's daughter, came out to meet him and said, "What honor the king of Israel won for himself today! He stripped down today in front of the servant girls of his own officials, the way a worthless man shamelessly strips himself."

20Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel to day, who uncovered himself to day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself!

NoteMichal's opening line is sarcasm: "how honored" or "how distinguished" the king made himself. "Uncovered himself" points at the short priestly ephod he was dancing in. The word rendered "worthless man" means empty or of no substance; it carries a strong charge of vulgarity.

21David said to Michal, "I did it before the LORD. He chose me instead of your father and everyone in his family, and he appointed me ruler over the LORD's people, over Israel. So I will celebrate before the LORD.

21And David said unto Michal, It was before the LORD, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel: therefore will I play before the LORD.

22I will humble myself even more than this, and I will be low in my own eyes. But those servant girls you spoke of will honor me."

22And I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight: and of the maidservants which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honour.

Note"Humble myself" translates a Hebrew verb meaning to make oneself light, of little weight or account, the opposite of the word for honor or glory that Michal used sarcastically. The Hebrew reads "low in my own eyes"; the ancient Greek and some Hebrew manuscripts read "in your eyes."

23And Michal, Saul's daughter, had no children as long as she lived.

23Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death.

NoteThe text states the fact and does not say why. In this culture childlessness was a grave misfortune for a woman, and for the story it means no child of Saul's line would ever inherit David's throne.