40:1 “Comfort, comfort my people,”
says your 1 God.
40:2 “Speak kindly to 2 Jerusalem, 3 and tell her
that her time of warfare is over, 4
that her punishment is completed. 5
For the Lord has made her pay double 6 for all her sins.”
40:3 A voice cries out,
“In the wilderness clear a way for the Lord;
construct in the desert a road for our God.
40:4 Every valley must be elevated,
and every mountain and hill leveled.
The rough terrain will become a level plain,
the rugged landscape a wide valley.
40:5 The splendor 7 of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people 8 will see it at the same time.
For 9 the Lord has decreed it.” 10