Tune: FREU DICH SEHR (PSALM 42)
Words: Johannes Olearius, 1671; trans. Catherine Winkworth, 1863, alt.
Music: Genevan Psalter, 1551
This setting of Psalm 40 is paired with an energetic, joyful Genevan psalm tune.
View Lyrics
VERSE 1:
Comfort, comfort ye My people,
Speak of peace, now says our God;
Comfort those who sit in darkness,
Mourning under sorrow’s load;
Cry unto Jerusalem
Of the peace that waits for them;
Tell her that her sins I cover,
And her warfare now is over.
VERSE 2:
For the herald’s voice is crying
In the desert far and near,
Calling all to true repentance,
Since the kingdom now is here.
O 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.
VERSE 3:
Now make 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
Spreads through all the earth abroad,
And all flesh shall see the token
That His Word is never broken.
Comfort, comfort ye My people,
Speak of peace, now says our God;
Comfort those who sit in darkness,
Mourning under sorrow’s load;
Cry unto Jerusalem
Of the peace that waits for them;
Tell her that her sins I cover,
And her warfare now is over.
VERSE 2:
For the herald’s voice is crying
In the desert far and near,
Calling all to true repentance,
Since the kingdom now is here.
O 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.
VERSE 3:
Now make 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
Spreads through all the earth abroad,
And all flesh shall see the token
That His Word is never broken.
rhythm with optional brass quartet
Key: F