The Biblical Texts for Handel's Messiah

The following are the Biblical texts for George Frederick Handel's musical masterpiece, The Messiah. Most of the lyrics are direct quotes of the Biblical texts, but a few are modified slightly, primarily to change verb tense, or a change in person (for example, from first to third person for Matthew 11:30).

According to Jay Welch, "The omission of certain numbers out of the original 53 is in keeping with a tradition of excisions established by the composer himself" (a quote from the album-cover notes of the Philadelphia Orchestra/Mormon Tabernacle Choir recording of the work). I have two separate recordings of The Messiah, neither of which contain numbers 34-37, so I do not have the texts for those.

For the most part, all I have done here is give the text as it is in the King James Version. The King James Version with which we are familiar today is actually the fourth edition of that translation, published in 1769. Since this work was composed in 1741-1742, the edition of the KJV that was used would have been slightly different in some places, and that may account for some of the variations. I have noted, in at least some of the instances, a change in person, or when a variant reading is used, or made other notes when I have noticed variations. However, you will probably find a few others which I have not noted.

The compilation of the text is generally attributed to Mr. Charles Jennens, a friend of Handel's. However, some scholars believe it was actually compiled by Jennens' secretary, one Mr. Pooley, who was a clergyman. Whatever the case, judging by the use of marginal readings and variant translations, I am inclined to believe that whoever compiled the text was quite familiar with Scripture.