Arise. Cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches. Pour out your heart
like water in the presence of the Lord. Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you
internally within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. My soul is
cast down within me. Therefore, I remember you. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your
waterfalls and all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. By day, the Lord commands
his steadfast love and at night, his song and his with me. A prayer to the God of my life. You
keep track of my every toss and turn. You have collected all my tears in your body. You recorded
each one in your score. The Lord earnestly mocks yours to be gracious to you. Therefore,
you will rise up to show you boundless compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all
who wait for his companionship. You will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry
for help. As soon as he hears, he will answer you. The Lord is close to the broken hearted and
heals those whose spirits are bruised. The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up those
bent beneath their loads. The Lord is right in all his ways and kind in all his ways. The Lord stays
me to all who call on him. Comfort. Comfort, my people, says your God. You will tend his flock
like a shepherd. He will gather no legs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He gathers
the outcasts in his room. He heals the broken hearted and bandages up their wounds. I will recount
the steadfast love of the Lord, how the Eternal One gives and gives and gives, according to his
compassion, according to the abundance of his enduring love. For thus says the Lower Behold,
I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream.
As a mother suits the child, so I will comfort you. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to repair broken
hearts, to comfort all who mourn, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes. The oil
of gladness instead of sorrow, and the garment of joyful praise instead of a faint spirit, that they
may be called magnificent, like great towering trees standing for what is right, standing to the
glory of the Eternal God who planted them. Be glad sky, take joy earth, burst into song mountains,
for the Lord has comforted his people. He will show his tender love to those who are suffering.
I, I am he who comforts you.
