forty five.

"Comfort, Comfort my people,

says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been

completed,

that her sin has been paid for,

that she has received from the Lord's

hand

double for all her sins.

A voice of one calling:

'In the desert

prepare the way for the Lord;

make straight in the wilderness

a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be raised up,

every mountain and hill made low;

the rough ground shall become level,

the rugged places plain.

And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,

and all mankind together will see it.

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.'"

Isaiah 40: 1-5