Isaiah 40:3

¹“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me! The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple. Behold, the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, is coming!” says the LORD of Armies.

²As it is written in the prophets, “Behold,^[+] I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you:³the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord! Make his paths straight!’”

⁴John came baptizing^[+] in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. ⁵All the country of Judea and all those of Jerusalem went out to him. They were baptized by him in the Jordan river, confessing their sins.

²³He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’as Isaiah the prophet said.”

¹In those days, John the Baptizer came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, ²“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” ³For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make the way of the Lord ready! Make his paths straight!”

¹⁶He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. ¹⁷He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to prepare a people prepared for the Lord.”

⁷⁶And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, ⁷⁷to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins,

⁵Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. ⁶He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

¹⁴He will say, “Build up, build up, prepare the way! Remove the stumbling-block out of the way of my people.”

¹⁹Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. Don’t you know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

¹⁰Go through, go through the gates! Prepare the way of the people! Build up, build up the highway! Gather out the stones! Lift up a banner for the peoples. ¹¹Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth: “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your salvation comes! Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him!’”