Comfort, Comfort Ye My People... written by Johann Olearius a German hymnwriter, preacher, and academic at the University of Wittenberg in the mid-1600s. The text for Tröstet, Tröstet meine Lieben is based on Isaiah 40:1-5, later translated from German to English by Katherine Winkworth.
Here is a choral performance...
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 nor heed.
She hath suffered many a day,
now her griefs have passed away;
God will change her pining sadness
into ever-springing gladness.
3 For Elijah's voice is crying
in the desert far and near,
bidding all men to repentance,
since the kingdom now is here.
O that warning cry obey,
now prepare for God a way;
let the valley 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.
https://hymnary.org/text/comfort_comfort_now_my_people
