and 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.
For 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.”
So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel.