The Levites, which bare the ark; i.e. the priests whose business it was to guard and to carry the ark of the covenant; "the priests the sons of Levi," as in Deuteronomy 31:9. According to Numbers 4:4, etc; it was the Kohathites who carried the ark on the journey through the desert; but they seem merely to have acted in this respect as the servants or helpers of the priests, who alone might touch the ark, and by whom it was carefully wrapped up before it was handed to the Kohathites.
On special occasions the priests themselves carried the ark (cf. Joshua 3:3, etc.; Joshua 4:9, Joshua 4:10; Joshua 6:6, Joshua 6:12; Joshua 8:33; 1 Kings 8:3).