Verse 3 Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. This prediction is quoted in Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23, showing that it was regarded as a great outstanding one, and the predicted forerunner as the connecting link between the old and the new economies. Like the great ones of the earth, the Prince of peace was to have his immediate approach proclaimed and his way prepared; and the call here--taking it generally--is a call to put out of the way whatever would obstruct his progress and hinder his complete triumph, whether those hindrances were public or personal, outward or inward. Levelling and smoothing are here the obvious figures whose sense is conveyed in the first words of the proclamation, "Prepare you the way of the Lord." The idea is that every obstruction shall be so removed as to reveal to the whole world the salvation of God in him whose name is the "Savior."