Bible Strands
2 Samuel 6:9
That day David feared the LORD and asked, “How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — David speaks to himself in the immediate aftermath of Yahweh striking Uzzah, marking the precise moment he halts the ark’s intended journey to the City of David.
The words — וַ/יִּרָ֥א (va/i.yi.Ra') translates as "and he feared," and אֵ֛יךְ ('eikh) means "how?"
The thread — The text notes the halt of the ark's transport in 2 Samuel 6:10 and David's anger in 1 Chronicles 13:11, while the broader scriptural pattern of trembling before divine judgment appears in Psalm 119:120 and Numbers 17:12.
Why it lands — The passage states that David feared Yahweh and questioned how the ark could reach him, requiring the reader to confront the reality that approaching divine presence demands measured reverence rather than casual presumption.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and said, How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?
Cross-references
- Psalms 119:120 My flesh trembles in awe of You; I stand in fear of Your judgments.
- 1 Chronicles 13:11 Then 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.
- Numbers 17:12 Then the Israelites declared to Moses, “Look, we are perishing! We are lost; we are all lost!
- 1 Samuel 5:10 So 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!”
- 1 Samuel 6:20 The 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 Kings 8:27 But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.
- Job 25:5 If even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in His sight,
- Isaiah 6:5 Then 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 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees. “Go away from me, Lord,” he said, “for I am a sinful man.”
- 1 Peter 3:6 just 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.