A CRY OF COMFORT FOR JERUSALEM
Prelude to the Rhapsody of 'Zion Redeemed'
Jehovah
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; that she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.
[Voices carry on the tidings across the desert to Jerusalem
A Voice of one crying
Prepare ye in the wilderness the way of the Lord,
Make straight in the desert a high way for our God.
Every valley shall be exalted,
And every mountain and hill shall be made low:
And the crooked shall be made straight,
And the rough places plain:
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together:
For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
A Second Voice (in the distance)