Praise him with the tambourine and with dancing! Praise him with stringed instruments and the flute!

They allow their children to run ¹  like a flock; their little ones dance about.

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.

‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance; ¹  we wailed in mourning, ²  yet you did not weep.’

The Lover to His Beloved: (7:1) ¹  Turn ² , turn, O ³  Perfect One! ⁴  Turn, turn, that I ⁵  may stare at you! The Beloved to Her Lover: Why ⁶  do you gaze upon the Perfect One like the dance of the Mahanaim? ⁷ 

The Lord says, ¹  “At that time young women will dance and be glad. Young men and old men will rejoice. ²  I will turn their grief into gladness. I will give them comfort and joy in place of their sorrow.

Let them praise his name with dancing! Let them sing praises to him to the accompaniment of the tambourine and harp!

They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to one another, ¹  ‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance; ²  we wailed in mourning, ³  yet you did not weep.’

Wild animals will rest there, the ruined ¹  houses will be full of hyenas. ²  Ostriches will live there, wild goats will skip among the ruins. ³ 

Our hearts no longer have any joy; ¹  our dancing is turned to mourning.

I will rebuild you, my dear children Israel, ¹  so that you will once again be built up. Once again you will take up the tambourine and join in the happy throng of dancers. ² 

and keep your eyes open. ¹  When you see ²  the daughters of Shiloh coming out to dance in the celebration, ³  jump out from the vineyards. Each one of you, catch yourself a wife from among the daughters of Shiloh and then go home to the land of Benjamin.

So do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” ¹ 

Strength lodges in its neck, and despair ¹  runs before it.

Their hearts are calloused, ¹  but I find delight in your law.

my soul ¹  will rejoice when your lips speak what is right. ² 

The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped playing their music.

The Benjaminites did as instructed. ¹  They abducted two hundred of the dancing girls to be their wives. ²  They went home ³  to their own territory, ⁴  rebuilt their cities, and settled down. ⁵ 

When his daughter Herodias ¹  came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you.”

You will break them ¹  with an iron scepter; ²  you will smash them like a potter’s jar!’” ³