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Speak kindly to Jerusalem and tell her,
    ‘Your time of service is finished.
    You have paid the price for your sins.’
I, the Lord, have punished you twice
    for every sin you committed.”

Listen, there is someone shouting:
“Prepare a way in the desert for the Lord.
    Make a straight road there for our God.
Every valley must be filled.
    Every mountain and hill should be made flat.
The crooked roads should be made straight,
    and the rough ground made smooth.

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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