Preparing to Move the Ark

(2 Samuel 6:12–15)

David constructed buildings 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, because the LORD has chosen them to carry the ark of the LORD and to minister before Him forever.”

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And David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the LORD to the place he had prepared for it. 4 Then he gathered together the descendants of Aaron and the Levites:

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• From the Kohathites Uriel the chief and 120 of his relatives;
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• from the Merarites Asaiah the chief and 220 of his relatives;
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• from the Gershomites Joel the chief and 130 of his relatives;
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• from the Elizaphanites Shemaiah the chief and 200 of his relatives;
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• from the Hebronites Eliel the chief and 80 of his relatives;
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• [and] from the Uzzielites Amminadab the chief and 112 of his relatives.
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David summoned the priests Zadok and Abiathar and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab. 12 And he said to them,“You are the heads of the Levitical families. You and your relatives must consecrate yourselves so that you may bring the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, to [the place] I have prepared for it. 13 It was because you Levites were not with us the first time that the LORD our God burst forth in anger against us. For we did not consult Him about the proper order.”

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