2 Samuel 6:1-3

David Brings the Ark to Jerusalem

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.

[6:1]  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.

[6:1]  ² tn Or “chosen.”

[6:2]  ³ tn Heb “arose and went.”

[6:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “from,” but the following context indicates they traveled to this location.

[6:2]  ⁵ tn This is another name for Kiriath-jearim (see 1 Chr 13:6).

[6:2]  ⁶ tc The MT has here a double reference to the name (שֵׁם שֵׁם, shem shem). Many medieval Hebrew mss in the first occurrence point the word differently and read the adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”). This is also the understanding of the Syriac Peshitta (Syr., taman). While this yields an acceptable understanding to the text, it is more likely that the MT dittographic here. The present translation therefore reads שֵׁם only once.