1. “Comfort my people! Comfort them!” says your God.
2. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and announce to itthat its time of hard labor is overand its wrongs have been paid for.It has received from the Lord double for all its sins.”
3. A voice cries out in the desert:“Clear a way for the Lord.Make a straight highway in the wilderness for our God.
4. Every valley will be raised.Every mountain and hill will be lowered.Steep places will be made level.Rough places will be made smooth.
5. Then the Lord’s glory will be revealedand all people will see it together.The Lord has spoken.”
6. A voice called, “Call out!”I asked, “What should I call out?”“Call out: All people are like grass,and all their beauty is like a flower in the field.
7. Grass dries up,and flowers wither when the Lord’s breath blows on them.Yes, people are like grass.
8. Grass dries up,and flowers wither,but the word of our God will last forever.”
9. Go up a high mountain, Zion.Tell the good news!Call out with a loud voice, Jerusalem.Tell the good news!Raise your voice without fear.Tell the cities of Judah:“Here is your God!”
10. The Almighty Lord is coming with powerto rule with authority.His reward is with him,and the people he has won arrive ahead of him.
11. Like a shepherd he takes care of his flock.He gathers the lambs in his arms.He carries them in his arms.He gently helps the sheep and their lambs.
12. Who has measured the water of the sea with the palm of his handor measured the sky with the length of his hand?Who has held the dust of the earth in a bushel basketor weighed the mountains on a scale and the hills on a balance?