That day David feared the LORD and asked, “How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?”
Parallel translations
- WEB David was afraid of Yahweh that day; and he said, “How could Yahweh’s ark come to me?”
- KJV And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, How shall the ark of the LORD come to me?
- NKJV David was afraid of the Lord that day; and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?”
- NASB So David was afraid of the Lord that day; and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?”
- NLT David was now afraid of the Lord, and he asked, “How can I ever bring the Ark of the Lord 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's anger turned to fear, and he wondered how he could safely bring the ark to himself. Holy reverence rightly replaces casual presumption.
Overview
The fear of the LORD here is not mere terror but a dawning recognition of God's awesome holiness. David's question echoes the men of Beth Shemesh after a similar judgment (1 Samuel 6:20): how can sinful people host the presence of a holy God? The answer the Bible ultimately gives is found in a mediator, fulfilled in Christ who makes God's presence dwelling with His people a blessing rather than a danger.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 119:120My flesh trembles in awe of You; I stand in fear of Your judgments.
- 1 Chr 13:11–12Then David became angry because the LORD had burst forth against Uzzah; so he named that place Perez-uzzah, as it is called to this day.
- 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.
- Num 17:12–13Then the Israelites declared to Moses, “Look, we are perishing! We are lost; we are all lost!
- 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!”
- Job 25:5–6If even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in His sight,
- 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.”
- 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.”
- 1 Pet 3:6just as Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him lord. And you are her children if you do what is right and refuse to give way to fear.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
God's covenant with David — a son whose throne and kingdom would last forever (7:12–16) — finds its yes in Jesus, the Son of David who reigns without end.
How 2 Samuel 6:9 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.