And he said unto them, ye are the chief of the fathers of the
Levites
Of the families of the Levites, heads of their fathers' houses:
sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren;
respectively under each, whose numbers are before given, by washing their bodies and clothes, and abstaining from their wives:
that you may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel unto the
place that I have prepared for it;
( 2 Samuel 6:17 ) .