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2 Samuel 6:10

in 2 Samuel 6

So he was unwilling to move the ark of the LORD to the City of David; instead, he took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

So David would not remove the ark of Jehovah unto him into the city of David; but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

KJV

So David would not remove the ark of the Lord unto him into the city of David: but David carried it aside into the house of Obed–edom the Gittite.

This verse in 2 Samuel 6

Commentary

8 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

But David carried it aside - The house of Obed-edom appears to have been very near the city, which they were about to enter, but were prevented by this accident, and lodged the ark with the nearest friend.

This site's exposition

afraid of the Lord that day

on 2 Samuel 6:9-11

David's fear is not defiance but the shock of a plan that has just killed a man, and for three months he leaves the ark in the house of Obed-edom rather than risk it further. Obed-edom is called the Gittite, most likely a Levite connected to Gath-rimmon rather than a Philistine of Goliath's city, and 1 Chronicles 15:18 and 24 to 25 place a man of that name among the gatekeepers David later appoints. The report that the Lord has blessed his house for the ark's sake is what turns David back toward Jerusalem, and 1 Chronicles 15:13 preserves his own later confession of what the first attempt had lacked: we sought him not after the due order.

This site's exposition

the house of Obed-edom the Gittite

Adam Clarke places the house of Obed-edom near the city, the nearest friend's door to hand. John Wesley, quoting Bishop Hall, marks the courage of a man who opened his home to the ark that had just killed Uzzah. Albert Barnes adds that he later played the harp before it.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

He saw Uzzah struck dead; yet invites it to his house, and opens his doors without fear, knowing it was a savour of death, only to them that treated it ill. "O the courage, says Bishop Hall, of an honest and faithful heart! Nothing can make God otherwise than amiable to him: even his justice is lovely."

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

) till he is better prepared for its reception. He took care to perpetuate the remembrance of this stroke by a new name he gave to the place: Perez-uzzah, the breach of Uzzah,

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

So David would not remove the ark of the Lord unto him into the city of David,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

None ever had, nor ever shall have, reason to say that it is in vain to serve God. Let masters of families be encouraged to keep up religion in their families, and to serve God and the interests of his kingdom with their houses and estates, for that is the way to bring a blessing upon all they have. The ark is a guest which none shall lose by that bid it welcome.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Obed-edom was a Levite of the family of Merari, being 1Ch 15:18-24; 1Ch 16:38 a son of Jeduthun, who was a Merarite. He was a porter, a player on the harp, and was one of the Levites especially designated to take part in the musical services on the occasion of bringing up the ark to Zion, and to minister before it when brought up. He is called a Gittite perhaps from Gath-Rimmon, in Manasseh, which belonged to the Kohathites Jos 21:25. Marriage with a Kohathite, or some other cause, would account for his dwelling in a Kohathite city.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

Oveid Edom. He was a Levite as it is wriiten in Divrei Hayomim (I,:24) and he was one of the gatekeepers. 8 Of the Bais HaMikdosh.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Samuel 6:10:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
And Hashem blessed. His wife and her eight daughters-in-law each gave birth to six children in one stomach. Pregnancy. as it is said, (Divrei Hayomim I,:5–8) "Poualti, the eigth. Child of Oveid Edom. … sixty-two [belonging] to Oveid Edom. 11 See Berachos 63b.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on II Samuel 6:11:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

17 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְלֹֽא־and not

    velo'-H38085168 times

  • אָבָ֣הhe was willing

    ʾavahH1454 times

  • דָוִ֗דDavid

    davidH1732999 times

  • לְהָסִ֥ירto turn aside

    lehasirH5493299 times

  • אֵלָ֛יוto himself

    ʾelavH4135510 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • אֲר֥וֹן[the] ark of

    ʾaronH727202 times

  • יְהוָ֖הYahweh

    yahwehH30686520 times

  • עַל־to

    ʾal-H59215755 times

  • עִ֣יר[the] city of

    ʾirH58921090 times

  • דָּוִ֑דDavid

    davidH1732999 times

  • וַיַּטֵּ֣הוּand he turned aside it

    vaiyatehuH5186214 times

  • דָוִ֔דDavid

    davidH1732999 times

  • בֵּ֥ית[the] house of

    beitH10042046 times

  • עֹבֵֽד־Obed-

    ʾoed-H565440 times

  • אֱד֖וֹםEdom

    ʾedomH565440 times

  • הַגִּתִּֽי׃the Gittite

    hagitiH166310 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    2 Samuel 4:3

    because the Beerothites fled to Gittaim and have lived there as foreigners to this day.

    it leads to

    • Nehemiah 11:33

      Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim,

    • 1 Samuel 31:7

      When the Israelites along the valley and those on the other side of the Jordan saw that the army of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their…

  • Through

    2 Samuel 18:2

    He sent out the troops, a third under Joab, a third under Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and a third under Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the troops, “I will…

    it leads to

    • Judges 7:16

      And he divided the three hundred men into three companies and gave each man a ram’s horn in one hand and a large jar in the other, containing a torch.

    • 2 Samuel 15:19–22

      Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you also go with us? Go back and stay with the new king, since you are both a foreigner and an exile from your…

  • Through

    1 Chronicles 15:18

    and with them their brothers next in rank: Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, and the gatekeepers Obed-edom and Jeiel.

    it leads to

    • 1 Chronicles 26:4

      And Obed-edom also had sons: Shemaiah the firstborn, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, Sachar the fourth, Nethanel the fifth,

    • 1 Chronicles 25:9–31

      The first lot, which was for Asaph, fell to Joseph, his sons, and his brothers—12 in all; the second to Gedaliah, his sons, and his brothers—12 in all;

    • 1 Chronicles 25:2–6

      From the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asarelah. These sons of Asaph were under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied under the direction of the king.

    • 1 Chronicles 16:38

      along with Obed-edom and his sixty-eight relatives. Obed-edom son of Jeduthun, and also Hosah, were to be gatekeepers.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

About 2 Samuel

David Mourns the Death of Absalom, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
David Mourns the Death of Absalom, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and W. G. Blaikie, The Second Book of Samuel (Expositor's Bible).