Isaiah 40:1-8
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
God’s People Are Comforted
40 Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God.(A)
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.(B)
3 A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.(C)
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.(D)
5 Then 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 out!”
And I said,[a] “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass;
their constancy is like the flower of the field.(E)
7 The grass withers; the flower fades,
[[when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
surely the people are grass.(F)
8 The grass withers; the flower fades,]][b]
but the word of our God will stand forever.(G)
Luke 1:67-80
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Zechariah’s Prophecy
67 Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:(A)
68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has looked favorably on[a] his people and redeemed them.(B)
69 He has raised up a mighty savior[b] for us
in the house of his child David,(C)
70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,(D)
71 that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
72 Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors
and has remembered his holy covenant,(E)
73 the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
to grant us 74 that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,(F) 75 in holiness and righteousness
in his presence all our days.(G)
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,(H)
77 to give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.(I)
78 Because of the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break[c] upon[d] us,
79 to shine upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”(J)
80 The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.(K)
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