I went out full, and the Lord has brought me back empty. And why do you call me Naomi, seeing the Lord has humbled me and the Mighty One has afflicted me?

Oh that I were as in months past, in the days when God preserved me!

As when I steadfastly pursued my ways, when God took care of my house.

when my ways were moistened with butter, and the mountains flowed for me with milk.

The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and all the old men stood up.

And they that heard me blessed me, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

For I saved the poor out of the hand of the oppressor, and helped the fatherless who had no helper.

Also I put on righteousness, and clothed myself with judgment like a mantle.

I was the father of the helpless, and I searched out the cause which I knew not.

And I said, My age shall continue as the stem of a palm tree; I shall live a long while.

My glory was fresh in me, and my bow prospered in my hand.

At my word they spoke not again, and they were very glad whenever I spoke to them.

Were I to laugh at them, they would not believe it; and the light of my face has not failed.

But now the youngest have laughed me to scorn; now they reprove me in their turn, whose fathers I set at nought; whom I did not deem worthy [to be with] my shepherd dogs.

[One is] childless from want and famine, [such as] they that fled but lately the distress and misery of drought.

Thieves have risen up against me,

They will cry out among the rustling [bushes].

But now I am their music, and they have me for a byword.

For He has opened His quiver and afflicted me: they also have cast off the restraint of my presence.

My paths are ruined, for they have stripped off my raiment: He has shot at me with His weapons.

My pains return upon me; my hope is gone like the wind, and my safety as a cloud.

And by night my bones are confounded; and my sinews are relaxed.

And You have counted me as clay; my portion in dust and ashes.

They attacked me also without mercy: You have scourged me with a strong hand.

For I know that death will destroy me: for the earth is the house [appointed] for every mortal.

Yet I wept over every helpless man; I groaned when I saw a man in distress.

My belly boiled, and would not cease- the days of poverty prevented me.

I have become a brother of monsters, and a companion of ostriches.

My harp also has been turned into mourning, and my song into my weeping.

ALEPH. How will the gold be tarnished, and the fine silver changed! The sacred stones have been poured forth at the top of all the streets.

But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things, but now here he is comforted and you are suffering.

Hope in Him, all you congregation of the people; pour out your hearts before Him, for God is our helper. Pause.

And Anna answered and said, No my lord, [I live] in a hard day, and I have not drunk wine or strong drink, and I pour out my soul before the Lord.

Count not your maidservant for a wicked woman, for by reason of the abundance of my complaint I have continued [my prayer] until now.

Even now my life shall be poured forth upon me, and days of anguish seize me.

And the sons of the Levites took the ark of God, (as Moses commanded by the word of God according to the Scripture) upon their shoulders with poles.

So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel; Asaph the son of Berechiah [was one] of his brethren; and Ethan the son of Kushaiah was of the sons of Merari their brethren;

And the singers- Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, [were] to make [a sound] with bronze cymbals.

Mattithiah, Elipheleh, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps of Sheminith, to make a loud noise.

And Berechiah and Elkanah [were] doorkeepers for the ark.

So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains of thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant from the house of Obed-Edom with gladness.

And David [was] clothed with a fine linen robe, and all the Levites [who were] bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the band of singers; also upon David [there was] a robe of fine linen.

So they brought in the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tabernacle which David pitched for it; and they offered whole burnt offerings and peace offerings before God.

And he divided to every man of Israel (both men and women), to [every] man one baker's loaf, and a cake.

Asaph [was] the chief, and next to him Zechariah, [then] Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, and Obed-Edom; and Jeiel sounded with musical instruments, lutes [and] harps, and Asaph with cymbals.

Then David first gave orders to praise the Lord by the hand of Asaph and his brethren.

Sing [songs] to Him, and sing hymns to Him, relate to all [people] His wonderful deeds, which the Lord has wrought.

Seek the Lord and be strong, seek His face continually.

[you] seed of Israel His servants, [you] seed of Jacob His chosen ones!

Let us remember His covenant forever, His word which He commanded to a thousand generations,

He confirmed it to Jacob for an ordinance, to Israel [as] an everlasting covenant,

when they were few in number, when they were but little, and dwelt as strangers in it;

He permitted not a man to oppress them, and He reproved kings for their sakes,

Sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim His salvation from day to day.

For the Lord [is] great, and greatly to be praised: He [is] to be feared above all gods.

Glory and praise [are] in His presence; strength and rejoicing [are] in His place.

Give to the Lord the glory [due] His name; take gifts and offer [them] before Him, and worship the Lord in His holy courts.

Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth exalt; and let them say among the nations, The Lord reigns.

Then shall the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord, for He has come to judge the earth.

And thus say, Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather us, and rescue us from among the heathen, that we may praise Your holy name, and glory in Your praises.

And they left there Asaph and his brethren before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to minister before the ark continually, according to the service of each day; from day to day.

And [they appointed] Zadok the priest, and his brethren the priests, before the tabernacle of the Lord in the high place in Gibeon,

And with him [were] Heman and Jeduthun, and the rest chosen out by name to praise the Lord, for His mercy [endures] forever.

And all the people departed, everyone to his own home. And David returned to bless his house.

For the end, A Psalm for Asaph, concerning the winepresses. Rejoice in God our helper; shout aloud to the God of Jacob.

Blow the trumpet at the new moon, in the glorious day of your feast.

A Song of Degrees. I was glad when they said to me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.

And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son, and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow which dwells among you, in whatsoever place the Lord your God shall choose, that His name should be called there.

And you shall rejoice in your feast, you, and your son, and your daughter, your male servant, and your female servant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the orphan, and the widow that is in your cities.

Seven days shall you keep a feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God shall choose for Himself; and if the Lord your God shall bless you in all your fruits, and in every work of your hands, then you shall rejoice.

And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he dismissed the people to their tents, rejoicing, and with a glad heart, because of the good deeds which the Lord had done to David, and to Solomon, and to Israel His people.

And the congregation purposed together to keep another seven days. And they kept [another] seven days with gladness.

And all the congregation rejoiced, the priests and the Levites, and all the congregation of Judah, and those that were present of Jerusalem, and the strangers that came from the land of Israel, and those that dwelt in Judah.

Must you always rejoice, and go into My holy places continually, as they that keep a feast? And must you go with a flute, as those that rejoice, into the mountain of the Lord, to the God of Israel?

Behold, upon the mountains the feet of him that brings glad tidings, and proclaims peace! O Judah, keep your feasts, pay your vows: for they shall no more pass through you to your decay.