1 Chronicles15chapter 15

David states the correction himself: 'None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites,' and he gathers the clan heads by name. Purifying themselves meant washing, changing clothes, and abstaining beforehand — a set process, not a mood. Then the poles went on the shoulders 'as Moses commanded according to the word of the LORD,' which is the writer's way of saying the first attempt had failed on exactly this point.

The music is described like an orchestra chart. There are bronze cymbals for the leaders, harps tuned one way, lyres tuned another, and priests blowing trumpets, with named men in each section. Two of the tuning terms have never been fully explained — they may name a high and a low range — and translators have long left them as they stand.

Chenaniah is set over 'the carrying' or 'the song' — the same Hebrew word covers the lifting of a load and the lifting of the voice, and both fit a man who instructed the Levites in a procession. The linen robe and ephod David wears is a priest's simple working garment, not royal dress.

Seven bulls and seven rams were sacrificed when God helped the carriers — an offering made because the first six steps went right.