2 Samuel 6:1

1 Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.

2 Samuel 6:1 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 6:1

Again, David gathered together all [the] chosen [men] of
Israel, thirty thousand.
] Which was done by the advice of his officers, ( 1 Chronicles 13:1 ) ; the word "again" refers either to the gathering of them when they made him king in Hebron, as the Jewish writers generally observe; but then they gathered themselves, and not David: or rather to his gathering them to fight the Philistines a little while ago; and as they were the choice and young men that were gathered for war, as being the fittest, so now to fetch up the ark with dancing and singing, and to protect it; the Septuagint version says they were about seventy thousand; but the Targum, Syriac, and Arabic versions, have thirty thousand, agreeably to the Hebrew text.

2 Samuel 6:1 In-Context

1 Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.

2 And David arose , and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the LORD of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims.

3 And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart.

4 And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark.

5 And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals.