{"id":845,"date":"2017-12-18T06:20:12","date_gmt":"2017-12-18T11:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/?p=845"},"modified":"2017-12-16T20:05:44","modified_gmt":"2017-12-17T01:05:44","slug":"comfort-comfort-ye-my-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/2017\/12\/comfort-comfort-ye-my-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Comfort, Comfort Ye My People"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cComfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins\u201d (Isaiah 40:1\u20132).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Forest<\/a><\/p>\n

Isaiah 40 begins with some amazing words of hope<\/a>. In the midst of pending judgment, Isaiah points the nation of Judah to the coming of the Messiah. He speaks of Christ who would come and tell the weary and downcast:<\/p>\n

\u201cCome to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light\u201d (Matthew 11:28\u201330).<\/p>\n

In 1741 George Fredrick Handel opened his oratorio Messiah<\/em> with a setting of Isaiah 40. Seventy years earlier, in 1671, a German minister named Johannes Olearius fashioned the same passage into a hymn: Comfort, Comfort Ye My People<\/em>. Olearius was born in 1611 (the same year the KJV translation of the Bible was completed) and he attended the University of Wittenberg (where Martin Luther had taught theology).<\/p>\n

The hymn is set to a tune from the Genevan Psalter<\/em> composed by Louis Bourgeois to fit Psalm 42. Psalm 42 includes the refrain:<\/p>\n

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
\nand why are you in turmoil within me?
\nHope in God; for I shall again praise him,
\nmy salvation and my God.
\n(Psalm 42:5)<\/p>\n

Olearius\u2019 hymn is a beautiful setting of God\u2019s words of comfort to His people. It was translated into English by Catherine Winkworth in 1863.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Comfort, Comfort Ye My People<\/strong><\/p>\n

Comfort, comfort ye my people,
\nSpeak ye peace, thus saith our God;
\nComfort those who sit in darkness,
\nMourning \u2018neath their sorrow\u2019s load.
\nSpeak ye to Jerusalem,
\nOf the peace that waits for them;
\nTell her that her sins I cover,
\nAnd her warfare now is over.<\/p>\n

Yea, her sins our God will pardon,
\nBlotting out each dark misdeed;
\nAll that well deserved His anger
\nHe no more will see or heed.
\nShe has suffered many a day,
\nNow her griefs have passed away;
\nGod will change her pining sadness
\nInto ever springing gladness.<\/p>\n

For the herald\u2019s voice is crying
\nIn the darkness far and near,
\nBidding all men to repentance,
\nSince the kingdom now is here.
\nO that warning cry obey!
\nNow prepare for God a way;
\nLet the valleys rise to meet Him,
\nAnd the hills bow down to greet Him.<\/p>\n

Make ye straight what long was crooked,
\nMake the rougher places plain;
\nLet your hearts be true and humble,
\nAs befits His holy reign.
\nFor the glory of the Lord
\nNow o\u2019er earth is shed abroad;
\nAnd all flesh shall see the token,
\nThat His word is never broken.<\/p>\n

\u201cComfort, Comfort Ye My People\u201d
\nWords by Johannes Olearius, 1671
\nTranslated by Catherine Winkworth, 1863
\nMusic by Louis Bourgeois, 1551
\nArranged from the tune GENEVAN 42
\nFrom the Genevan Psalter<\/em>, 1551
\nWords and Music \u00a9Public Domain<\/p>\n

Download free sheet music<\/a> (PDF), including guitar chord charts and an arrangement of the hymn tune THIRSTING for classical guitar.<\/p>\n

More Hymns from History<\/a><\/p>\n

More Christmas music arranged for Classical Guitar<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cComfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins\u201d (Isaiah 40:1\u20132). Isaiah 40 begins with some amazing words of hope. In the midst of pending judgment, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21,22],"tags":[133,76,185,98,18,64,38],"class_list":["post-845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hymn","category-music-for-worship","tag-christmas","tag-classical-guitar","tag-comfort","tag-hymn","tag-music-2","tag-peace","tag-rest"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4lLgO-dD","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=845"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":848,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845\/revisions\/848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}