6:1 David again assembled 1 all the best 2 men in Israel, thirty thousand in number. 6:2 David and all the men who were with him traveled 3 to 4 Baalah 5 in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God which is called by the name 6 of the Lord of hosts, who sits enthroned between the cherubim that are on it. 6:3 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.
1 tn The translation understands the verb to be a defective spelling of וַיְּאֱסֹף (vayyÿ’esof) due to quiescence of the letter א (alef). The root therefore is אסף (’sf, “to gather”). The Masoretes, however, pointed the verb as וַיֹּסֶף (vayyosef), understanding it to be a form of יָסַף (yasaf, “to add”). This does not fit the context, which calls for a verb of gathering.
2 tn Or “chosen.”
3 tn Heb “arose and went.”
4 tn Heb “from,” but the following context indicates they traveled to this location.
5 tn This is another name for Kiriath-jearim (see 1 Chr 13:6).
6 tc The MT has here a double reference to the name (שֵׁם שֵׁם, shem shem). Many medieval Hebrew