2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,and announce to herthat her time of forced labor is over,her iniquity has been pardoned, and she has received from the Lord’s handdouble 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 smoothand 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.
6 A voice was saying, “Cry out! ”Another said, “What should I cry out? ”“All humanity is grass, and all its goodness is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flowers fadewhen the breath of the Lord blows on them; indeed, the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever.”