"Comfort, Comfort, Ye My People"
                     by Johann Olearius, 1635-1711
              Translated by Catherine Winkworth, 1829-1878
                               Text From:
                  THE HANDBOOK TO THE LUTHERAN HYMNAL
           (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1942)p.50



        1. Comfort, comfort, ye My people,
        Speak ye peace, thus saith our God;
        Comfort those who sit in darkness,
        Mourning 'neath their sorrows' load.
        Speak ye to Jerusalem
        Of the peace that waits for them;
        Tell her that her sins I cover
        And her warfare now is over.

        2. Yea, her sins our God will pardon,
        Blotting out each dark misdeed;
        All that well deserved His anger
        He no more will see or heed.
        She hath suffered many a day,
        Now her griefs have passed away;
        God will change her pining sadness
        Into ever-springing gladness.

        3. Hark, the Herald's voice is crying
        In the desert far and near,
        Bidding all men to repentance
        Since the Kingdom now is here.
        Oh, that warning cry obey!
        Now prepare for God a way;
        Let the valleys rise to meet Him
        And the hills bow down to greet Him.

        4. Make ye straight what long was crooked,
        Make the rougher places plain;
        Let your hearts be true and humble,
        As befits His holy reign.
        For the glory of the Lord
        Now o'er earth is shed abroad,
        And all flesh shall see the token
        That His Word is never broken.

        

        Notes:
        Hymn #61 from _The Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal_
        Text: Is. 40:1-8
        Author: Johann Olearius, 1671
        Translated by: Catherine Winkworth, 1863, alt.
        Titled: "Troestet, troestet meine Lieben"
        Tune: "Freu dich sehr"
        1st Published in: _Genevan Psalter_, 1551