1 Kings 8:3

⁶Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and cross over before the people.” They took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people.

⁹Moses wrote this law and delivered it to the priests the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the LORD’s covenant, and to all the elders of Israel.

¹⁵“When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furniture of the sanctuary, as the camp moves forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to carry it; but they shall not touch the sanctuary, lest they die. The sons of Kohath shall carry these things belonging to the Tent of Meeting.

³and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the LORD your God’s covenant, and the Levitical priests bearing it, then leave your place and follow it.

¹¹David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites: for Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab, ¹²and said to them, “You are the heads of the fathers’ households of the Levites. Sanctify yourselves, both you and your brothers, that you may bring the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, up to the place that I have prepared for it. ¹³For because you didn’t carry it at first, the LORD our God broke out in anger against us, because we didn’t seek him according to the ordinance.”

¹⁴So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel. ¹⁵The children of the Levites bore God’s ark on their shoulders with its poles, as Moses commanded according to the LORD’s word.

⁵They brought up the ark, the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent. The Levitical priests brought these up. ⁶King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled to him were before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle that could not be counted or numbered for multitude. ⁷The priests brought in the ark of the LORD’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim. ⁸For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above.

⁹Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day.

⁹But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because the service of the sanctuary belonged to them; they carried it on their shoulders.

²Then David said, “No one ought to carry God’s ark but the Levites. For the LORD has chosen them to carry God’s ark, and to minister to him forever.”

¹⁴When the people moved from their tents to pass over the Jordan, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant being before the people, ¹⁵and when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark had dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest),