¹⁵ When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the Kohathites shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, or they will die. These are the things of the tent of meeting that the Kohathites are to carry.^(A)

⁶ When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen lurched.^{(A) 7} The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him there,^[a] and he died there beside the ark of God.^(B)

⁹ But to the Kohathites he gave none, because they were charged with the care of the holy things that had to be carried on the shoulders.^(A)

The Law to Be Read Every Seventh Year

⁹ Then Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel.^(A)

⁹ When they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put out his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen lurched.^{(A) 10} The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; he struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark, and he died there before God.^(B)

²¹ Then the Kohathites, who carried the holy things, set out, and the tabernacle was set up before their arrival.^(A)

² Then David commanded that no one but the Levites were to carry the ark of God, for the Lord had chosen them to carry the ark of the Lord and to minister to him forever.^(A)

The Ark at Kiriath-jearim

¹⁹ The descendants of Jeconiah did not rejoice with the people of Beth-shemesh when they greeted^[a] the ark of the Lord, and he killed seventy men of them.^[b] The people mourned because the Lord had made a great slaughter among the people.^(A)

¹⁸ You have not come to something^[a] that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest,^{(A) 19} and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them.^{(B) 20} (For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.”^{(C) 21} Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”)^{(D) 22} But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,^{(E) 23} and to the assembly^[b] of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,^{(F) 24} and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.^(G)

²⁵ See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking, for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven!^{(H) 26} At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.”^{(I) 27} This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what is shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.^{(J) 28} Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe, ²⁹ for indeed our God is a consuming fire.^(K)