2. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,and cry to herthat her warfare is ended,that her iniquity is pardoned,that she has received from the Lord’s handdouble for all her sins.
3. A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4. Every valley shall be lifted up,and every mountain and hill be made low;the uneven ground shall become level,and the rough places a plain.
5. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6. A voice says, “Cry!”And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass,and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
7. The grass withers, the flower fadeswhen the breath of the Lord blows on it;surely the people are grass.
8. The grass withers, the flower fades,but the word of our God will stand forever.
9. Go on up to a high mountain,O Zion, herald of good news;lift up your voice with strength,O Jerusalem, herald of good news;lift it up, fear not;say to the cities of Judah,“Behold your God!”
10. Behold, the Lord God comes with might,and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him,and his recompense before him.
11. He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom,and gently lead those that are with young.
12. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his handand marked off the heavens with a span,enclosed the dust of the earth in a measureand weighed the mountains in scalesand the hills in a balance?