He told them: “You are the leaders of the Levites’ families. You and your relatives must consecrate yourselves and bring the ark of the Lord God of Israel up to the place I have prepared for it.

The descendants of Levi carried the ark of God on their shoulders with poles, just as Moses had ordered according to the divine command.

Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer the priests were to blow the trumpets before the ark of God; Obed-Edom and Jehiel were also guardians ¹  of the ark.

So David, the leaders of Israel, and the commanders of units of a thousand went to bring up the ark of the Lord’s covenant from the house of Obed-Edom with celebration.

When God helped the Levites who were carrying the ark of the Lord’s covenant, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.

All Israel brought up the ark of the Lord’s covenant; they were shouting, blowing trumpets, sounding cymbals, and playing stringed instruments.

They brought the ark of God and put it in the middle of the tent David had pitched for it. Then they offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings ¹  before God.

He appointed some of the Levites to serve before the ark of the Lord, to offer prayers, songs of thanks, and hymns to the Lord God of Israel.

David ¹  left Asaph and his colleagues there before the ark of the Lord’s covenant to serve before the ark regularly and fulfill each day’s requirements, ² 

and for the refined gold of the incense altar. He gave him ¹  the blueprint for the seat ²  of the gold cherubim that spread their wings ³  and provide shelter for the ark of the Lord’s covenant.

(Now David had brought up the ark of God from Kiriath Jearim to the place he had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem. ¹ 

The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its assigned ¹  place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, in the most holy place under the wings of the cherubs.

You are to hang this curtain under the clasps and bring the ark of the testimony in there behind the curtain. ¹  The curtain will make a division for you between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. ² 

At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi ¹  to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand before the Lord to serve him, and to formulate blessings ²  in his name, as they do to this very day.

Then Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the Levitical priests, who carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, and to all Israel’s elders.

and commanded the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God ¹  being carried by the Levitical priests, you must leave here ²  and walk ³  behind it.

When the feet ¹  of the priests carrying the ark of the Lord, the Ruler ²  of the whole earth, touch ³  the water of the Jordan, the water coming downstream toward you will stop flowing and pile up.” ⁴ 

Joshua told them, “Go in front of the ark of the Lord your God to the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to put a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the Israelite tribes.

tell them how the water of the Jordan stopped flowing ¹  before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the water of the Jordan stopped flowing. ²  These stones will be a lasting memorial for the Israelites.”

Joshua also set up twelve stones ¹  in the middle of the Jordan in the very place where the priests carrying the ark of the covenant stood. They remain there to this very day.