The following libretto gives the text as set by Handel, collated with the movement numbers used in various editions (see Preface). Another important textual source is the printed word-book for the first London performances (1743), which was almost certainly produced under the inspection of Charles Jennens and thus represents the closest source document to the libretto from which Handel originally worked in 1741. Divergences between the text of Handel's musical autograph and the 1743 libretto are collated in the notes; additions and adaptations have been made in order to cover Handel's later additions to the score. ‘Scene’ numberings, movement headings, capitalisation and punctuation are taken from the 1743 word-book. Handel's idiosyncratic spellings have not been noted, but his syllabic contractions (for example, ‘ev'n’ for ‘even’) have been retained: some, but not all, of these also appear in the printed libretto. (Interestingly, both Handel's autograph and the word-book distinguish between ‘open'd’ and ‘unstopped’ in ‘Then shall the eyes of the blind be open'd’.)

The opening title, including the incorrect form of Handel's name and the mottoes supplied by Jennens, is taken from the title page of the 1743 word-book. The headings to Parts are those used by Handel; the wordbook has the form ‘Part One’ (and so on). The ‘Romans’ text of ‘How beautiful are the feet’ naturally did not appear in the 1743 word-book, since it was not performed then, and for this movement reference has been made to the equivalent 1749 publication.