Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them has the LORD chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him forever.
These were the sons of Levi by their fathers’ houses; even the heads of their fathers’ houses, as they were counted individually by the number of their names, that did the work for the service of the house of the LORD, from the age of twenty years and upward.
And when the tabernacle moves forward, the Levites shall take it down: and when the tabernacle is to be encamped, the Levites shall set it up: and the stranger that comes near shall be put to death.
Then the tabernacle of meeting shall move forward with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camp: as they encamp, so shall they move forward, every man in his place by their standards.
But unto the sons of Kohath he gave none: because the service of the sanctuary belonging unto them was that they should bear them upon their shoulders.