Live audio recording from performances by the Folger Consort and the Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford, at the National Building Museum, Washington, DC, December 20, 21, and 22, 1993.

From the King James Bible

Isaiah 9:6

This contemporary word book—a popular way for audiences to follow a performance or study the text later on—uses italic type to indicate songs or choruses like this one, as opposed to the slower recitatives.

Charles Jennens. Messiah. An oratorio. As it is perform’d at the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden. Set to musick by Mr. Handel. London, 1749? Shelfmark 159–150q. Folger Shakespeare Library.