Isaiah 40:1-5
Comfort for God’s People
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 wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord40:3 Or A voice of one calling in the wilderness: / “Prepare the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.40:3 Hebrew; Septuagint make straight the paths of our God
Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”