Messiah: No. 2 Comfort Ye My People

The text is from Isaiah 40:1-3: "1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.  2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.

"3 A voice cries: 'In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.'"

+++

I didn't notice this until I looked at the notation, but the first syllables of one instance of "iniquity" and "pardoned" have accidentals:

The accidental on "iniquity" pretty clearly indicates the error inherent in sin, but the accidental on "pardoned" took me a while to suss out.  It might just be there to make the melody that Handel wanted (as could the accidental on "iniquity"), but it might also be indicative of redemption: in the same way that Christ had to take on sin to redeem people from their sins, "pardoned" has an accidental like "iniquity."  Musically, it illustrates what is sung later: "with his stripes we are healed."