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.

⁶ And when they came to ^(A)Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put out his ^(B)hand to the ark of God and ^[a]took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. ⁷ Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his ^[b]error; and he died there by the ark of God.

⁹ But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because theirs was ^(A)the service of the holy things, ^(B)which they carried on their shoulders.

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.

⁹ And when they came to ^[a]Chidon’s threshing floor, Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen ^[b]stumbled. ¹⁰ Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzza, and He struck him ^(A)because he put his hand to the ark; and he ^(B)died there before God.

²¹ Then the Kohathites set out, carrying the ^(A)holy things. (The tabernacle would be ^[a]prepared for their arrival.)

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.”

¹⁹ Then ^(A)He struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. ^[a]He ^(B)struck fifty thousand and seventy men of the people, and the people lamented because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter.

The Glorious Company

¹⁸ For you have not come ^[a]to ^(A)the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and ^[b]darkness and tempest, ¹⁹ and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it ^(B)begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. ²⁰ (For they could not endure what was commanded: ^(C)“And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned ^[c]or shot with an arrow.” ²¹ And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ^(D)“I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”)

²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, ²³ to the ^[d]general assembly and church of ^(E)the firstborn ^(F)who are registered in heaven, to God ^(G)the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men ^(H)made perfect, ²⁴ to Jesus ^(I)the Mediator of the new covenant, and to ^(J)the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things ^(K)than that of Abel.

Hear the Heavenly Voice

²⁵ See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For ^(L)if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, ²⁶ whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, ^(M)“Yet once more I ^[e]shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” ²⁷ Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the ^(N)removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.

²⁸ Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we ^[f]may ^(O)serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. ²⁹ For ^(P)our God is a consuming fire.