He met ¹  with the people and appointed musicians to play before the Lord and praise his majestic splendor. As they marched ahead of the warriors they said: “Give thanks to the Lord, for his loyal love endures.” ² 

They and their relatives, all of them skilled and trained to make music to the Lord, numbered two hundred eighty-eight. ¹ 

So I registered a complaint with the leaders, asking “Why is the temple of God neglected?” Then I gathered them and reassigned them to their positions. ¹ 

A song of ascents. ²  Attention! ³  Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who serve ⁴  in the Lord’s temple during the night.

The Lord who rules over all ¹  told me to say to this people, ²  “Take note of what I say. ³  Call for the women who mourn for the dead! Summon those who are the most skilled at it!” ⁴ 

I am presently eighty years old. Am I able to discern good and bad? Can I ¹  taste what I eat and drink? Am I still able to hear the voices of male and female singers? Why should I ²  continue to be a burden to my lord the king?

Hear ¹  the sound of those who divide the sheep ²  among the watering places; there they tell of ³  the Lord’s victorious deeds, the victorious deeds of his warriors ⁴  in Israel. Then the Lord’s people went down to the city gates –

The women singing in the temple ¹  will wail in that day.” The sovereign Lord is speaking. “There will be many corpses littered everywhere! ²  Be quiet!”

And the sound of the harpists, musicians, flute players, and trumpeters will never be heard in you ¹  again. No ²  craftsman ³  who practices any trade will ever be found in you again; the noise of a mill ⁴  will never be heard in you again.