1 Chronicles 15:1-13

Revised Standard Version

The Ark Brought to Jerusalem

15 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. ² Then David said, “No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, for the Lord chose them to carry the ark of the Lord and to minister to him for ever.” ³ And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the Lord to its place, which he had prepared for it. ⁴ And David gathered together the sons of Aaron and the Levites: ⁵ of the sons of Kohath, U′riel the chief, with a hundred and twenty of his brethren; ⁶ of the sons of Merar′i, Asai′ah the chief, with two hundred and twenty of his brethren; ⁷ of the sons of Gershom, Jo′el the chief, with a hundred and thirty of his brethren; ⁸ of the sons of Eli-za′phan, Shemai′ah the chief, with two hundred of his brethren; ⁹ of the sons of Hebron, Eli′el the chief, with eighty of his brethren; ¹⁰ of the sons of Uz′ziel, Ammin′adab the chief, with a hundred and twelve of his brethren. ¹¹ Then David summoned the priests Zadok and Abi′athar, and the Levites U′riel, Asai′ah, Jo′el, Shemai′ah, Eli′el, and Ammin′adab, ¹² and said to them, “You are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites; sanctify yourselves, you and your brethren, so that you may bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it. ¹³ Because you did not carry it the first time,^[a] the Lord our God broke forth upon us, because we did not care for it in the way that is ordained.”