^8 (A)He waited seven days for Samuel, as Samuel had instructed him to do, but Samuel still had not come to Gilgal. The people began to desert Saul, ⁹ so he said to them, “Bring me the burnt sacrifices and the fellowship sacrifices.” He offered a burnt sacrifice, ¹⁰ and just as he was finishing, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet him and welcome him, ¹¹ but Samuel said, “What have you done?”

Saul answered, “The people were deserting me, and you had not come when you said you would; besides that, the Philistines are gathering at Michmash. ¹² So I thought, ‘The Philistines are going to attack me here in Gilgal, and I have not tried to win the Lord's favor.’ So I felt I had to offer a sacrifice.”

¹³ “That was a foolish thing to do,” Samuel answered. “You have not obeyed the command the Lord your God gave you. If you had obeyed, he would have let you and your descendants rule over Israel forever. ^14 (B)But now your rule will not continue. Because you have disobeyed him, the Lord will find the kind of man he wants and make him ruler of his people.”

Getting Ready to Move the Covenant Box

15 For his own use, David built houses in David's City.^[a] He also prepared a place for God's Covenant Box and put up a tent for it. ^2 (A)Then he said, “Only Levites should carry the Covenant Box, because they are the ones the Lord chose to carry it and to serve him forever.” ³ So David summoned all the people of Israel to Jerusalem in order to bring the Covenant Box to the place he had prepared for it. ⁴ Next he sent for the descendants of Aaron and for the Levites. ⁵ From the Levite clan of Kohath came Uriel, in charge of 120 members of his clan; ⁶ from the clan of Merari came Asaiah, in charge of 220; ⁷ from the clan of Gershon, Joel, in charge of 130; ⁸ from the clan of Elizaphan, Shemaiah, in charge of 200; ⁹ from the clan of Hebron, Eliel, in charge of 80; ¹⁰ and from the clan of Uzziel, Amminadab, in charge of 112.

¹¹ David called in the priests Zadok and Abiathar and the six Levites, Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab. ¹² He said to the Levites, “You are the leaders of the Levite clans. Purify yourselves and your fellow Levites, so that you can bring the Covenant Box of the Lord God of Israel to the place I have prepared for it. ¹³ Because you were not there to carry it the first time, the Lord our God punished us for not worshiping him as we should have done.”

¹⁴ Then the priests and the Levites purified themselves in order to move the Covenant Box of the Lord God of Israel. ^15 (B)The Levites carried it on poles on their shoulders, as the Lord had commanded through Moses.

¹⁶ David commanded the leaders of the Levites to assign various Levites to sing and to play joyful music on harps and cymbals. ^17-21 From the clans of singers they chose the following men to play the brass cymbals: Heman son of Joel, his relative Asaph son of Berechiah, and Ethan son of Kushaiah, of the clan of Merari. To assist them they chose the following Levites to play the high-pitched harps: Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah.

To play the low-pitched harps they chose the following Levites: Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Azaziah, and the Temple guards, Obed Edom and Jeiel.

²² Because of his skill in music Chenaniah was chosen to be in charge of the levitical musicians. ^23-24 Berechiah and Elkanah, along with Obed Edom and Jehiah, were chosen as guards for the Covenant Box. The priests Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer were chosen to blow trumpets in front of the Covenant Box.

^13 (A)Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord. He disobeyed the Lord's commands; he tried to find guidance by consulting the spirits of the dead

^31 (A)“Do not go for advice to people who consult the spirits of the dead. If you do, you will be ritually unclean. I am the Lord your God.

⁶ Another battle took place at Gath, where there was a giant with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. He was a descendant of the ancient giants.

⁷ Then Saul ordered his officials, “Find me a woman who is a medium, and I will go and consult her.”

“There is one in Endor,” they answered.

⁸ So Saul disguised himself; he put on different clothes, and after dark he went with two of his men to see the woman. “Consult the spirits for me and tell me what is going to happen,” he said to her. “Call up the spirit of the man I name.”