Messiah (Handel's)

For over 380 years the remarkable "Messiah" has been performed, in whole or in part, not least at this time of year.. The music was composed by G.F. Handel (HWV 56), to suit text supplied by Charles Jennings.

Below are the sentences used in the Messiah, but here taken from English Bibles of today. These modern words do not exactly fit the music! Using the Stanford libretto listing, and recordings, including 2009 King's College, Cambridge, I have found it difficult to sort the track numbers.

(See below for a source of the original wording, and for a recorded performance with 600 voices, in 2 hours 33 mins.)

Comfort, O comfort my people,

    says your God.

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.

A voice cries out:

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;

    make straight in the desert a highway for our God. (Isaiah 40:1-3, NRSVUE) 

Every valley will be lifted up,

and every mountain and hill will be leveled;

the uneven ground will become smooth

and the rough places, a plain. (Isaiah 40:4, CSB) 

Then the glory of the Lord

    will appear for all to see.

The Lord has promised this!” (Isaiah 40:5, CEV) 

 

For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. (Haggai 2:6-7, ESV) 

“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty. (Malachi 3:1, NIV) 

 

“But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes. (Malachi 3:2, NLT) 

 

he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.[a](Malachi 3:3, NRSVUE) 

 

See, the virgin will become pregnant

and give birth to a son,

and they will name him Immanuel,[a]

which is translated “God is with us.” (Matthew 1:23, CSB) 

 

There is good news

    for the city of Zion.

Shout it as loud as you can[a]

    from the highest mountain.

Don't be afraid to shout

to the towns of Judah:

    “Your God is here!”(Isaiah 40:9, CEV) 

Arise, shine, for your light has come,

    and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. (Isaiah 60:1, ESV) 

 

See, darkness covers the earth

    and thick darkness is over the peoples,

but the Lord rises upon you

    and his glory appears over you.

Nations will come to your light,

    and kings to the brightness of your dawn. (Isaiah 60:2-3, NIV) 

 

The people who walk in darkness

    will see a great light.

For those who live in a land of deep darkness,[b]

    a light will shine.(Isaiah 9:2, NLT) 

For a child has been born for us,

    a son given to us;

authority rests upon his shoulders,

    and he is named

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6, NRSVUE) 

In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. (Luke 2:8, CSB) 

 

All at once an angel came down to them from the Lord, and the brightness of the Lord's glory flashed around them. The shepherds were frightened. (Luke 2:9, CEV) 

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:10-11, ESV) 

 

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,(Luke 2:13, NIV) 

“Glory to God in highest heaven,

    and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”(Luke 2:14, NLT) 

 

Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!

    Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!

See, your king comes to you;

    triumphant and victorious is he,

humble and riding on a donkey,

    on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

He[a] will cut off the chariot from Ephraim

    and the war horse from Jerusalem;

and the battle bow shall be cut off,

    and he shall command peace to the nations;

his dominion shall be from sea to sea

    and from the River to the ends of the earth.(Zecharaiah 9:9-10, NRSVUE) 

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened,

and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

Then the lame will leap like a deer,

and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy,

for water will gush in the wilderness,

and streams in the desert; (Isaiah 35:5-6, CSB) 

 

The LORD cares for his nation,

just as shepherds care

    for their flocks.

He carries the lambs

    in his arms,

while gently leading

    the mother sheep.(Isaiah 40:11, CEV) 

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.(Matthew 11: 28-29, ESV) 

For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:30, NLT) 

 

PART TWO

 

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29, NRSVUE) 

 

He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of suffering who knew what sickness was.

He was like someone people turned away from;[a]

he was despised, and we didn’t value him. (Isaiah 53:3, CSB) 

I let them beat my back

    and pull out my beard.

I didn't turn aside

when they insulted me

    and spit in my face. (Isaiah 50:6, CEV) 

 Surely he took up our pain

    and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

    stricken by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

    and by his wounds we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4-5, NIV) 

But he was wounded for our transgressions,

    crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the punishment that made us whole,

    and by his bruises we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5, NRSVUE) 

 

We all went astray like sheep;

we all have turned to our own way;

and the Lord has punished him

for[a] the iniquity of us all.(Isaiah 53:6, CSB) 

Everyone who sees me

    makes fun and sneers.

They shake their heads, (Psalm 22:7, CEV) 

 

“He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him;

    let him rescue him, for he delights in him!” (Psalm 22:8, ESV) 

 

Scorn has broken my heart

    and has left me helpless;

I looked for sympathy, but there was none,

    for comforters, but I found none. (Psalm 69:20, NIV) 

 

“Does it mean nothing to you, all you who pass by?

    Look around and see if there is any suffering like mine,

which the Lord brought on me

    when he erupted in fierce anger. (Lamentations 1:12, NLT) 

 

By a perversion of justice he was taken away.

    Who could have imagined his future?

For he was cut off from the land of the living,

    stricken for the transgression of my people. (Isaiah 53:8, NRSVUE) 

For you will not abandon me to Sheol;

you will not allow your faithful one to see decay. (Psalm 16:10, CSB) 

Open the ancient gates,

so that the glorious king

    may come in.

Who is this glorious king?

He is our Lord, a strong

    and mighty warrior.

Open the ancient gates,

so that the glorious king

    may come in.

Who is this glorious king?

He is our Lord,

    the All-Powerful! Psalm 24:7-10, CEV) 

For to which of the angels did God ever say,

“You are my Son,

    today I have begotten you”?

Or again,

“I will be to him a father,

    and he shall be to me a son”?(Hebrews 1:5, ESV) 

And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says,

“Let all God’s angels worship him.”[a](Hebrews 1:6, NIV) 

 

When you ascended to the heights,

    you led a crowd of captives.

You received gifts from the people,

    even from those who rebelled against you.

    Now the Lord God will live among us there.(Psalm 68:18) 

The Lord gives the command;

    great is the company of those[a] who bore the tidings: (Psalm 68:11, NRSVUE) 

 

How beautiful on the mountains

are the feet of the herald,

who proclaims peace,

who brings news of good things,

who proclaims salvation,

who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” (Isaiah 52:7, CSB; cf Romans 10:15) 

But am I saying that the people of Israel did not hear? No, I am not! The Scriptures say,

“The message was told

    everywhere on earth.

It was announced

    all over the world.” (Romans 10:18, CEV; cf Psalm 19:4) 

 

Why do the nations rage[a]

    and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves,

    and the rulers take counsel together,

    against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, (Psalm 2:1-2, ESV) 

“Let us break their chains

    and throw off their shackles.” (Psalm 2:3, NIV) 

But the one who rules in heaven laughs.

    The Lord scoffs at them. (Psalm 2:4, NLT) 

You shall break them with a rod of iron

    and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” (Psalm 2:9, NRSVUE) 

Then I heard something like the voice of a vast multitude, like the sound of cascading waters, and like the rumbling of loud thunder, saying,

Hallelujah, because our Lord God, the Almighty,

reigns! (Revelation 19:6, CSB) 

At the sound of the seventh trumpet, loud voices were heard in heaven. They said,

“Now the kingdom

    of this world

belongs to our Lord

    and to his Chosen One!

And he will rule

    forever and ever!”(Revelation 11:15, CEV) 

On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.(Revelation 19:16, ESV) 

 

PART THREE

 

I know that my redeemer[a] lives,

    and that in the end he will stand on the earth.[b]

And after my skin has been destroyed,

    yet[c] in[d] my flesh I will see God; (Job 19: 25-26, NIV) 

But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. (I Corinthians 15: 20, NLT) 

 

For since death came through a human, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human, for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. (I Corinthians 15: 21-22, NRSVUE) 

 

Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. (I Corinthians 15:51-52, CSB) 

t will happen suddenly, quicker than the blink of an eye. At the sound of the last trumpet the dead will be raised. We will all be changed, so we will never die again. Our dead and decaying bodies will be changed into bodies that won't die or decay. (I Corinthians 15:52-53, CEV) 

 

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.” (I Corinthians 15:54, ESV) 

“Where, O death, is your victory?

    Where, O death, is your sting?”[a]

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.(I Corinthians 15:55-56. NIV) 

But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.(I Corinthians 15:57, NLT) 

 

What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? (Romans 8:31, NRSVUE) 

Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. (Romans 8:33-34, CSB) 

and they were saying in a loud voice,

“The Lamb who was killed

    is worthy to receive power,

riches, wisdom, strength,

    honor, glory, and praise.” (Rev 5:12, CEV)

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (Rev 5:13, ESV)

AMEN (!)

You can see that Jennens had a theme or agenda. The Bible passages were not necessarily part of such a theme in the Bible itself. Selecting passages and implying they apply to Jesus may be problematic.

The overall message of "Messiah" is clear, and the music has long been acclaimed.

Scripture quotations marked (CEV) are from the Contemporary English Version Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

Scripture quotations marked (CSB) are from the Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NRSVUE) are from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission.

Bible passages via Biblegateway.com

Photo by Marius Masalar on Unsplash

Charles Jennens, 1742, compiled the original libretto. Handel supplied the music(!).

Original lyrics

http://opera.stanford.edu/iu/libretti/messiah.htm

Live performance

https://www.youtube.com/live/bR0cEOTpYSk?si=hxhFFyP-uEOTer4x