SPEAKERS OF THE RHAPSODY

JEHOVAH

The Celestial Hosts

The Nations

Cyrus

Israel

Zion

The Servant of Jehovah
The Voice of Prophecy

The Prophetic Spectator

The Redeemer of Zion

The Watchmen of Jerusalem

Impersonal Voices, Cries, Hymns

The movement of a Rhapsodic drama is not localised

to any scene

128

PRELUDE

A CRY OF COMFORT FOR JERUSALEM

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.

Cry!

A SECOND VOICE (in the distance)

A DESPAIRING VOICE

What shall I cry?

All flesh is grass,

And all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the

field:

The grass withereth,

The flower fadeth,

Because the breath of the LORD bloweth upon it: Surely the people is grass!

THE SECOND VOICE

The grass withereth,

The flower fadeth:

But the word of our God shall stand for ever.

FOURTH VOICE (still more distant)

O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion,
Get thee up into the high mountain;

O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem,
Lift up thy voice with strength;

Lift it up, be not afraid;

Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!