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God’s People Are Comforted

40Comfort, O comfort my people,
   says your God.
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.

³ A voice cries out:
‘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 Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
   and all people shall see it together,
   for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’

⁶ A voice says, ‘Cry out!’
   And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’
All people are grass,
   their constancy is like the flower of the field.
⁷ The grass withers, the flower fades,
   when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
   surely the people are grass.
⁸ The grass withers, the flower fades;
   but the word of our God will stand for ever.
⁹ Get you up to a high mountain,
   O Zion, herald of good tidings;^*
lift up your voice with strength,
   O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,^*
   lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah,
   ‘Here is your God!’
¹⁰ See, the Lord God comes with might,
   and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him,
   and his recompense before him.
¹¹ He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
   he will gather the lambs in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom,
   and gently lead the mother sheep.

Psalm 96

Praise to God Who Comes in Judgement

¹ O sing to the Lord a new song;
   sing to the Lord, all the earth.
² Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
   tell of his salvation from day to day.
³ Declare his glory among the nations,
   his marvellous works among all the peoples.
⁴ For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
   he is to be revered above all gods.
⁵ For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
   but the Lord made the heavens.
⁶ Honour and majesty are before him;
   strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

⁷ Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
   ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
⁸ Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
   bring an offering, and come into his courts.
⁹ Worship the Lord in holy splendour;
   tremble before him, all the earth.

¹⁰ Say among the nations, ‘The Lord is king!
   The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved.
   He will judge the peoples with equity.’
¹¹ Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
   let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
¹²   let the field exult, and everything in it.
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
¹³   before the Lord; for he is coming,
   for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
   and the peoples with his truth.

¹²What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? ¹³And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. ¹⁴So it is not the will of your^* Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.