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1 Chronicles 13:12

WEBKJVBSBESVNKJVNASBNLT
That day David feared God and asked, “How can I ever bring the ark of God to me?”
1 Chronicles 13:12 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB David was afraid of God that day, saying, “How can I bring God’s ark home to me?”
  • KJV And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?
  • NKJV David was afraid of God that day, saying, “How can I bring the ark of God to me?”
  • NASB David was afraid of God that day, saying, “How can I bring the ark of God home to me?”
  • NLT David was now afraid of God, and he asked, “How can I ever bring the Ark of God back into my care?”

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

David grew afraid of God and wondered how he could ever bring the ark home. The tragedy produced a holy fear and reluctance.

Overview

David's confidence turned to fear as he confronted God's holiness firsthand. His question, 'How can I bring God's ark home to me?', reveals genuine reverence and a sense of his own inadequacy. This holy fear was the beginning of wisdom; David would later learn the right way to carry the ark (chapter 15). Reverent awe, not casual familiarity, is the proper posture before a holy God.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 9

  • Ps 119:120My flesh trembles in awe of You; I stand in fear of Your judgments.
  • Job 25:5–6If even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in His sight,
  • 1 Sam 5:10–11So they sent the ark of God to Ekron, but as it arrived, the Ekronites cried out, “They have brought us the ark of the God of Israel in order to kill us and our people!”
  • Num 17:12–13Then the Israelites declared to Moses, “Look, we are perishing! We are lost; we are all lost!
  • 1 Sam 6:20The men of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God? To whom should the ark go up from here?”
  • 1 Kgs 8:27But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.
  • Luke 5:8–9When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees. “Go away from me, Lord,” he said, “for I am a sinful man.”
  • Matt 25:24Finally, the servant who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Master, I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.
  • Isa 6:5Then I said: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts.”

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)
ARK

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Christ at the center

The genealogies and the everlasting covenant with David trace the single thread of promise running through the generations straight to the Christ in whom the line reaches its goal.

How 1 Chronicles 13:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.

And Davidדָּוִדwas afraidיָרֵאof Godאֱלֹהִיםthat dayיוֹםsayingאָמַרHowהֵיךְshall I bringבּוֹאthe arkאָרוֹןof Godאֱלֹהִים
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