2 Samuel 7:6-7

7:6 I have not lived in a house from the time I brought the Israelites up from Egypt to the present day. Instead, I was traveling with them and living in a tent. ¹  7:7 Wherever I moved among all the Israelites, I did not say ²  to any of the leaders ³  whom I appointed to care for ⁴  my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house made from cedar?”’

2 Samuel 7:2

7:2 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.”

2 Samuel 6:5-11

6:5 while David and all Israel ⁵  were energetically celebrating before the Lord, singing ⁶  and playing various stringed instruments, ⁷  tambourines, rattles, ⁸  and cymbals.

6:6 When they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacon, ⁹  Uzzah reached out and grabbed hold of ¹⁰  the ark of God, ¹¹  because the oxen stumbled. 6:7 The Lord was so furious with Uzzah, ¹²  he ¹³  killed him on the spot ¹⁴  for his negligence. ¹⁵  He died right there beside the ark of God.

6:8 David was angry because the Lord attacked ¹⁶  Uzzah; so he called that place Perez Uzzah, ¹⁷  which remains its name to this very day. 6:9 David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, “How will the ark of the Lord ever come to me?” 6:10 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. 6:11 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. ¹⁸ 

¹ tn Heb “in a tent and in a dwelling.” The expression is a hendiadys, using two terms to express one idea.

² tn Heb “Did I speak a word?” In the Hebrew text the statement is phrased as a rhetorical question.

³ tn Heb “tribes” (so KJV, NASB, NCV), but the parallel passage in 1 Chr 17:6 has “judges.”

⁴ tn Heb “whom I commanded to shepherd” (so NIV, NRSV).

⁵ tn Heb “all the house of Israel.”

⁶ tc Heb “were celebrating before the Lord with all woods of fir” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB). If the text is retained, the last expression must be elliptical, referring to musical instruments made from fir wood. But it is preferable to emend the text in light of 1 Chr 13:8, which reads “were celebrating before the Lord with all strength and with songs.”

⁷ tn Heb “with zithers [?] and with harps.”

⁸ tn That is, “sistrums” (so NAB, NIV); ASV, NASB, NRSV, CEV, NLT “castanets.”

⁹ tn 1 Chr 13:9 has “Kidon.”

¹⁰ tn Or “steadied.”

¹¹ tn Heb “and Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God and grabbed it.”

¹² tn Heb “and the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah.”

¹³ tn Heb “God.”

¹⁴ tc Heb “there.” Since this same term occurs later in the verse it is translated “on the spot” here for stylistic reasons.

¹⁵ tc The phrase “his negligence” is absent from the LXX.

¹⁶ tn Heb “because the Lord broke out [with] a breaking out [i.e., an outburst] against Uzzah.”

¹⁷ sn The name Perez Uzzah means in Hebrew “the outburst [against] Uzzah.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “house,” both here and in v. 12.