Isaiah 40:1-5

Comfort, comfort my people, 
   says your God. 
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, 
   and proclaim to her that her 
   hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord ’s hand 
  double for all her sins.

A voice of one calling:
In the wilderness prepare
   the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
   a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up,
   every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
   the rugged places a plain. 
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
   and all people will see it together. 
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.