² Then David said, “No one but the Levites^(A) may carry^(B) the ark of God, because the Lord chose them to carry the ark of the Lord and to minister^(C) before him forever.”

¹² He said to them, “You are the heads of the Levitical families; you and your fellow Levites are to consecrate^(A) yourselves and bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. ¹³ It was because you, the Levites,^(B) did not bring it up the first time that the Lord our God broke out in anger against us.^(C) We did not inquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way.^(D)” ¹⁴ So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves in order to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁵ And the Levites carried the ark of God with the poles on their shoulders, as Moses had commanded^(E) in accordance with the word of the Lord.^(F)