1 Then David chose 30,000 Israeli men and gathered them together. 2 He led them to the place in Judah formerly called Baalah, now called Kiriath-Jearim. They went in order to bring from there to Jerusalem the sacred chest, which had the name of Yahweh, the leader of the armies of the angels in heaven, written on it, and which had the statues of the winged creatures on top of it. Between those statues was where Yahweh spoke messages about ruling his people [MTY]. 3 The sacred chest was in the house of Abinadab, on top of a hill. They went there, and they put the chest on a new cart. Uzzah and Ahio, the two sons of Abinadab, were guiding the oxen that were pulling the cart. 4 Uzzah walked alongside the cart, and Ahio walked in front of it. 5 David and all the Israeli men were celebrating in God’s presence, singing with all their strength and playing lyres and harps, and beating tambourines, and clashing castanets and cymbals.

6 But when they came to the place where Nacon threshed grain, the oxen stumbled. So Uzzah put his hand on the sacred chest to ◄steady it/prevent it from falling off the cart►. 7 Yahweh immediately became very angry with Uzzah, and he killed him right there alongside the sacred chest, because he had touched the chest, and Yahweh had commanded that only the descendants of Levi who help the priests should touch the sacred chest.

8 David was angry because Yahweh had punished Uzzah. So ever since that time, that place has been called ‘The Punishment of Uzzah’.

9 David was also afraid of what else Yahweh would do to punish them, so he said, “◄How can I take the sacred chest with me to Jerusalem?/I am afraid to take the sacred chest with me to Jerusalem.►” [RHQ] 10 So he did not want to take the sacred chest to Jerusalem. Instead, they took it to another place; they took it to the house of Obed-Edom, from Gath city. 11 They left the sacred chest in the house of Obed-Edom for three months, and during that time Yahweh blessed Obed-Edom and his family.

12 Later, people told David, “Yahweh has blessed Obed-Edom and his family because he is taking care of the sacred chest!” When David heard that, he and some other men went to Obed-Edom’s house, and very joyfully brought the sacred chest from there to Jerusalem. 13  This time, descendants of Levi were carrying the sacred chest, but when they had walked only six steps, they stopped, and there David killed a bull and a fat calf, and offered them to Yahweh for a sacrifice. 14 David was wearing only a linen cloth wrapped around his waist, and was dancing very energetically to honor Yahweh. 15 David and the Israeli men took the sacred chest up to Jerusalem, shouting loudly and blowing trumpets.

16 While they were carrying the sacred chest into the city, David’s wife Michal, who was Saul’s daughter, looked out the window of her house. She saw King David leaping and dancing to honor Yahweh. So she was disgusted with him.

17 They brought the sacred chest into the tent that David had erected for it. Then David gave to Yahweh offerings to be completely burned on an altar, and other offerings to maintain fellowship with Yahweh. 18 When David had finished offering those sacrifices, he asked Yahweh, the Commander of the armies of the angels, to bless the people. 19 He also distributed food to all the people. To each Israeli man and woman he gave a loaf of bread, some meat, and a raisin cake. Then all the people returned to their homes.

20 When David went home to ask Yahweh to bless his family, his wife Michal came out to meet him. She said to him, “Maybe you, the king of Israel, think that you [IRO] were honoring yourself today, but really, you acted like a fool, uncovering yourself while the female servants of your officials were watching!”

21 David replied to Michal, “I was doing that to honor Yahweh, who chose me instead of your father and other members of his family, to be the king of the Israeli people, the people who belong to Yahweh. And I will continue to dance to honor Yahweh! 22  Even though you think that what I did was disgraceful, I will continue to do it even more. You may despise me because of what I did, but the women whom you were talking about will honor me!”

23  As a result, Saul’s daughter Michal never gave birth to any children.