2 Samuel 6:1–11, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
2 Samuel 6:1–11
Uzzah Dies and the Ark Stops with Obed-edom
A new cart carries the ark, and celebration is real
David gathers again all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. He arises and goes with all the people from Baale of Judah to bring up the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the LORD of hosts that dwells between the cherubim. They set the ark on a new cart and bring it out of the house of Abinadab in Gibeah. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, drive the new cart. Ahio goes before the ark.
David and all the house of Israel play before the LORD on instruments of fir, harps, psalteries, timbrels, cornets, and cymbals. Royal initiative, public music, and a cart the Torah never assigned to ark-bearing are all on the road together. The ark is not a mascot. It is the named presence they are moving toward a new capital.
Uzzah takes hold, dies, and the procession stops three months
At Nachon's threshingfloor the oxen shake it. Uzzah puts forth his hand to the ark of God and takes hold of it. The anger of the LORD is kindled against Uzzah, and God smites him there for his error, and he dies by the ark of God. David is displeased because the LORD has made a breach upon Uzzah, and he calls the place Perez-uzzah to this day. David is afraid that day and asks how the ark of the LORD shall come to him.
He will not remove the ark to the city of David. He carries it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. The ark remains there three months, and the LORD blesses Obed-edom and all his household. The narrator states divine anger and death without a complete theodicy, without Uzzah's inner motive, and without a full moral ranking of his grasp. Blessing on another house stands beside the grave. Sudden death is not a formula for diagnosing hidden guilt.
How this should shape us
Handle holy things with the care the thing itself requires, not with improvised reverence. When sudden tragedy falls, name what the text states, admit what it does not explain, and care for the shocked. Do not use Uzzah to blame people who die, and do not use fear as a tool of religious control.
Teach it back
Explain 2 Samuel 6:1–11 in your own words. Include its narrative movement, one source-supported detail, one material uncertainty, one person or cost power can obscure, and one use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Interpreters differ over source layers, chronology, historicity, characterization, textual readings, and whether the court story mainly legitimates, indicts, or holds David in sustained tension. The package states the received movement first and labels reconstructions.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
2 Samuel 6:1-11, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, repeated verbs, names, syntax, and the base text behind translation and textual discussion.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Sam.xml, 6:1-11
Supports: Unit-bounded wording, older-English clarification, textual witnesses, syntax, names, numbers, and major historical or literary notes actually printed for these verses.
NET Bible 2 Samuel PDF, printed pp. 552, translation and all translator notes attached to 6:1-11
Supports: Current publisher-visible controls for textual plurality, historical and archaeological limits, David's reception, political power, sexual violence, trauma, and the relationship with Kings and Chronicles; abstract-only chapters carry only their exposed claims.
Oxford Handbook of King David (2026), official Introduction pp. xxiii–xxvii and chapter 3 abstract and bibliographic record, pp. 37–53
Supports: One early-composition and historiographical-optimism proposal, literary structure, source integration, ethical poetics, and the limits of treating the proposal as consensus.
Garsiel, Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 10, article 5 (2010), complete open-access article pp. 1–42, especially the introduction and sections on composition, comparative structure, literary poetics, and historiographical value
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: 2 Samuel 6:1-11, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 2 Samuel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, repeated verbs, names, syntax, and the base text behind translation and textual discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Sam.xml, 6:1-11
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 2 Samuel with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Unit-bounded wording, older-English clarification, textual witnesses, syntax, names, numbers, and major historical or literary notes actually printed for these verses.
Exact location: NET Bible 2 Samuel PDF, printed pp. 552, translation and all translator notes attached to 6:1-11
Open source ↗modern scholarly handbook limited access
The Oxford Handbook of King David
Edited by Mahri Leonard-Fleckman and Christine Mitchell
Oxford University Press, 2026
Supports: Current publisher-visible controls for textual plurality, historical and archaeological limits, David's reception, political power, sexual violence, trauma, and the relationship with Kings and Chronicles; abstract-only chapters carry only their exposed claims.
Exact location: Oxford Handbook of King David (2026), official Introduction pp. xxiii–xxvii and chapter 3 abstract and bibliographic record, pp. 37–53
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
The Book of Samuel: Its Composition, Structure and Significance as a Historiographical Source
Moshe Garsiel
Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 10, article 5, 2010; published online 2011
Supports: One early-composition and historiographical-optimism proposal, literary structure, source integration, ethical poetics, and the limits of treating the proposal as consensus.
Exact location: Garsiel, Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 10, article 5 (2010), complete open-access article pp. 1–42, especially the introduction and sections on composition, comparative structure, literary poetics, and historiographical value
Open source ↗