David built houses for himself in the City of David; and he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it. Then David said, “No one is to carry the ark of God except the Levites; for the LORD chose them to carry the ark of God and to minister to Him forever.” And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the LORD to the place which he had prepared for it. David gathered together the sons of Aaron and the Levites: of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, with 120 of his relatives; of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, with 220 of his relatives; of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, with 130 of his relatives; of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, with 200 of his relatives; of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief, with 80 of his relatives; of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, with 112 of his relatives.
Then David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites—Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab, and he said to them, “You are the heads of the fathers’ households of the Levites; consecrate yourselves, both you and your relatives, so that you may bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it. Because you did not [carry it as God directed] the first time, the LORD our God made an [angry] outburst against us, for we did not seek Him in accordance with the ordinance.” [Num 1:50; 1 Chr 13:7-10] So the priests and the Levites consecrated (dedicated) themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel. The Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses commanded in accordance with the word of the LORD.
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