Then David said, "No one may carry the ark of God but the Levites, for the LORD has chosen them to carry the ark of God and to minister before Him forever."
He said to them, "You [are] the heads of the fathers' [houses] of the Levites; sanctify yourselves, you and your brethren, that you may bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel to [the place] I have prepared for it.
Then David spoke to the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brethren [to be] the singers accompanied by instruments of music, stringed instruments, harps, and cymbals, by raising the voice with resounding joy.
So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel; and of his brethren, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of their brethren, the sons of Merari, Ethan the son of Kushaiah;
and with them their brethren of the second [rank:] Zechariah, Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Elipheleh, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel, the gatekeepers;
Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, were to blow the trumpets before the ark of God; and Obed-Edom and Jehiah, doorkeepers for the ark.
So David, the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the house of Obed-Edom with joy.
David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who bore the ark, the singers, and Chenaniah the music master [with] the singers. David also wore a linen ephod.
Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the horn, with trumpets and with cymbals, making music with stringed instruments and harps.
And it happened, [as] the ark of the covenant of the LORD came to the City of David, that Michal, Saul's daughter, looked through a window and saw King David whirling and playing music; and she despised him in her heart.