The descendants of Levi carried the ark of God on their shoulders with poles, just as Moses had ordered according to the divine command.

He appointed some of the Levites to serve before the ark of the Lord, to offer prayers, songs of thanks, and hymns to the Lord God of Israel.

The Ammonites marched out and were deployed for battle at the entrance to the city, while the kings who had come were by themselves in the field.

The Arameans fled before Israel. David killed 7,000 ¹  Aramean charioteers and 40,000 infantrymen; he also killed Shophach ²  the commanding general.

While Ornan was threshing wheat, he turned and saw the messenger, and he and his four sons hid themselves.

David said, ¹  “Of these, 24,000 are to direct the work of the Lord’s temple; 6,000 are to be officials and judges;

David, Zadok (a descendant of Eleazar), and Ahimelech (a descendant of Ithamar) divided them into groups to carry out their assigned responsibilities. ¹ 

When all the leaders ¹  of Israel came to the king at Hebron, David made an agreement ²  with them in Hebron before the Lord. They anointed ³  David king over Israel, just as the Lord had announced through Samuel. ⁴ 

David and all Israel went up to Baalah (that is, Kiriath Jearim) in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God the Lord, who sits enthroned between the cherubim – the ark that is called by his name. ¹ 

David asked God, “Should I march up against the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?” The Lord said to him, “March up! I will hand them over to you!”

So David, the leaders of Israel, and the commanders of units of a thousand went to bring up the ark of the Lord’s covenant from the house of Obed-Edom with celebration.

“So now, say this to my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord who commands armies ¹  says: “I took you from the pasture and from your work as a shepherd ²  to make you a leader of my people Israel.

so ¹  it may become a reality ²  and you may gain lasting fame, ³  as people say, ⁴  ‘The Lord who commands armies is the God of Israel.’ ⁵  David’s dynasty ⁶  will be established before you,

David seized from him 1,000 chariots, 7,000 charioteers, ¹  and 20,000 infantrymen. David cut the hamstrings of all but a hundred of Hadadezer’s ²  chariot horses. ³ 

When David was informed, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan River, ¹  and marched against them. ²  David deployed his army against the Arameans for battle and they fought against him. ³ 

Joab reported to David the number of warriors. ¹  In all Israel there were 1,100,000 ²  sword-wielding soldiers; Judah alone had 470,000 sword-wielding soldiers. ³ 

King David replied to Ornan, “No, I insist on buying it for top price. ¹  I will not offer to the Lord what belongs to you or offer a burnt sacrifice ²  that cost me nothing. ³ 

David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings. ¹  He called out to the Lord, and the Lord ²  responded by sending fire from the sky and consuming the burnt sacrifice on the altar.

David said to the whole Israelite assembly, “If you so desire and the Lord our God approves, ¹  let’s spread the word ²  to our brothers who remain in all the regions of Israel, and to the priests and Levites in their cities, ³  so they may join us.

The men whose names are listed came during the time of King Hezekiah of Judah and attacked the Hamites’ settlements, ¹  as well as the Meunites they discovered there, and they wiped them out to this very day. They dispossessed them, ²  for they found pasture for their sheep there.