³ So all the elders of Israel came, ^(A)and the priests took up the ark.

⁶ Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, ^(A)“Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people.”

So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.

The Law to Be Read Every Seven Years

⁹ So Moses wrote this law ^(A)and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, ^(B)who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel.

³ and they commanded the people, saying, ^(A)“When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, ^(B)and the priests, the Levites, ^[a]bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it.

¹⁵ And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is set to go, then ^(A)the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them; ^(B)but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die.

“^(C)These are the things in the tabernacle of meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry.

⁵ Then they brought up the ark, the tabernacle of meeting, and all the holy furnishings that were in the tabernacle. The priests and the Levites brought them up. ⁶ Also King Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him before the ark, were sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered for multitude. ⁷ Then the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the ^(A)inner sanctuary of the ^[a]temple, to the Most Holy Place, under the wings of the cherubim. ⁸ For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles.

¹¹ And David called for ^(A)Zadok and ^(B)Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites: for Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab. ¹² He said to them, “You are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites; ^[a]sanctify yourselves, you and your brethren, that you may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel to the place I have prepared for it. ¹³ For ^(C)because you did not do it the first time, ^(D)the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not consult Him ^[b]about the proper order.”

¹⁴ So the priests and the Levites ^[c]sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁵ And the children of the Levites bore the ark of God on their shoulders, by its poles, as ^(E)Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord.

² Then David said, “No one may carry the ^(A)ark of God but the Levites, for ^(B)the Lord has chosen them to carry the ark of God and to minister before Him forever.”

⁶ Then Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord.”