¹²and said unto them, Ye are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, unto the place that I have prepared for it.
12. sanctify yourselves] Compare 2 Chronicles xxix. 5. For the method of sanctifying compare Exodus xix. 10, 15.
¹³For because ye bare it not at the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not according to the ordinance. ¹⁴So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel.
13. made a breach] xiii. 11, xiv. 11 (compare margin).
we sought him not] i.e. God; but a better rendering is we sought not unto it. Compare note on xiii. 3.
according to the ordinance] For its observance, see verse 15.
¹⁵And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the Lord.
15. the children of the Levites bare ... upon their shoulders] in accordance with the regulation of Numbers i. 50, vii. 9, which was not observed in the first attempt when the Ark was placed in a cart, xiii. 7.
the staves] Exodus xxv. 13, 14.
¹⁶And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren the singers, with instruments of music, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding aloud and lifting up the voice with joy.