Isaiah 40:1–5 (CSB)

GOD’S PEOPLE COMFORTED

40 “Comfort, comfort my people,”

says your God.

2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,

and announce to her

that her time of hard service is over,

her iniquity has been pardoned,

and she has received from the Lord’s hand

double for all her sins.”

3 A voice of one crying out:

Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness;

make a straight highway for our God in the desert.

4 Every valley will be lifted up,

and every mountain and hill will be leveled;

the uneven ground will become smooth

and the rough places, a plain.

5 And the glory of the Lord will appear,

and all humanity together will see it,

for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.