¹³ It was because you, the Levites,^(A) did not bring it up the first time that the Lord our God broke out in anger against us.^(B) We did not inquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way.^(C)” ¹⁴ So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves in order to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁵ And the Levites carried the ark of God with the poles on their shoulders, as Moses had commanded^(D) in accordance with the word of the Lord.^(E)

²² Even the priests, who approach^(A) the Lord, must consecrate^(B) themselves, or the Lord will break out against them.”^(C)

¹⁹ But God struck down^(A) some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy^[a] of them to death because they looked^(B) into the ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them.