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Speak tenderly to the people of Jerusalem.
    Announce to them
that their hard labor has been completed.
    Tell them that their sin has been paid for.
Tell them the Lord has punished them enough
    for all their sins.”

A messenger is calling out,
“In the desert prepare
    the way for the Lord.
Make a straight road through it
    for our God.
Every valley will be filled in.
    Every mountain and hill will be made level.
The rough ground will be smoothed out.
    The rocky places will be made flat.

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Speak tenderly(A) to Jerusalem,
    and proclaim to her
that her hard service(B) has been completed,(C)
    that her sin has been paid for,(D)
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
    double(E) for all her sins.

A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
    the way(F) for the Lord[a];
make straight(G) in the desert
    a highway for our God.[b](H)
Every valley shall be raised up,(I)
    every mountain and hill(J) made low;
the rough ground shall become level,(K)
    the rugged places a plain.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 40:3 Or A voice of one calling in the wilderness: / “Prepare the way for the Lord
  2. Isaiah 40:3 Hebrew; Septuagint make straight the paths of our God