Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
Parallel translations
- WEB Every valley will be filled. Every mountain and hill will be brought low. The crooked will become straight, and the rough ways smooth.
- BSB Every valley shall be filled in, and every mountain and hill made low. The crooked ways shall be made straight, and the rough ways smooth.
- NKJV Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth;
- NASB ‘Every ravine will be filled, And every mountain and hill will be lowered; The crooked will become straight, And the rough roads smooth;
- NLT The valleys will be filled, and the mountains and hills made level. The curves will be straightened, and the rough places made smooth.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Isaiah's words picture every obstacle being leveled to prepare the Lord's coming. It matters because it portrays the thorough heart-preparation repentance requires.
Overview
The Isaiah quotation continues, describing valleys filled and mountains lowered, crooked made straight, rough made smooth. The imagery depicts removing every barrier to welcome the Lord. Spiritually, it pictures the leveling work of repentance that prepares people to receive Christ and His salvation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Isa 40:4Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
- Isa 42:16And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.
- Isa 45:2I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
- Isa 49:11And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.
- Ezek 17:24And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it.
- Heb 12:12–13Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
- Luke 1:51–53He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
- Isa 2:11–17The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
- Isa 61:1–3The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
- Isa 35:6–8Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
- Jas 1:9Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 3:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.