Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁴ Lord, change our circumstances for the better,
    like dry streams in the desert waste!
⁵ Let those who plant with tears
    reap the harvest with joyful shouts.
⁶ Let those who go out,
    crying and carrying their seed,
    come home with joyful shouts,
    carrying bales of grain!

³ A voice is crying out:
“Clear the Lord’s way in the desert!
    Make a level highway in the wilderness for our God!
⁴ Every valley will be raised up,
    and every mountain and hill will be flattened.
    Uneven ground will become level,
    and rough terrain a valley plain.
⁵ The Lord’s glory will appear,
    and all humanity will see it together;
    the Lord’s mouth has commanded it.”

⁶ A voice was saying:
    “Call out!”
And another^[a] said,
    “What should I call out?”
All flesh is grass;
    all its loyalty is like the flowers of the field.
⁷ The grass dries up
    and the flower withers
    when the Lord’s breath blows on it.
    Surely the people are grass.
⁸ The grass dries up;
    the flower withers,
    but our God’s word will exist forever.

⁹ Go up on a high mountain,
    messenger Zion!
Raise your voice and shout,
    messenger Jerusalem!
Raise it; don’t be afraid;
    say to the cities of Judah,
    “Here is your God!”
¹⁰ Here is the Lord God,
    coming with strength,
    with a triumphant arm,
    bringing his reward with him
    and his payment before him.
¹¹ Like a shepherd, God will tend the flock;
    he will gather lambs in his arms
    and lift them onto his lap.
    He will gently guide the nursing ewes.