| 1. Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit, Wache, fleh und bete, Dass dich nicht die böse Zeit Unverhofft betrete; Denn es ist Satans List Über viele Frommen Zur Versuchung kommen. |
1. Make yourself ready, my spirit; Watch, plead, and pray, Lest the evil time [of death’s throes] Should come upon you unexpectedly. For Satan’s cunning Has assailed Many pious ones Unto the temptation [of faith wavering at that time]. |
| 2. Ach schläfrige Seele, wie? ruhest du noch? Ermuntre dich doch! Es möchte die Strafe dich plötzlich erwecken Und, wo du nicht wachest, Im Schlafe des ewigen Todes bedecken. |
2. Ah, drowsy soul, what? do you still rest? Just rouse yourself. [Impending] punishment [death] may suddenly awaken [sin in]1 you And, unless2 you watch [against sin], [the punishment will] Enshroud [you] in the sleep of eternal death. |
| 3. Gott, so vor deine Seele wacht, Hat Abscheu an der Sünden Nacht; Er sendet dir sein Gnadenlicht Und will vor diese Gaben, Die er so reichlich dir verspricht, Nur offne Geistesaugen haben. Des Satans List ist ohne Grund, Die Sünder zu bestricken; Brichst du nun selbst den Gnadenbund, Wirst du die Hilfe nie erblicken. Die ganze Welt und ihre Glieder Sind nichts als falsche Brüder; Doch macht dein Fleisch und Blut hiebei Sich lauter Schmeichelei. |
3. God, who watches over your soul, Has revulsion against the night [i.e., darkness] of sin; He sends you his light of grace And [in return] for these gifts That he so richly promises you Wants only open eyes of the spirit. The cunning of Satan is To ensnare sinners, without cause; If you now break the covenant of grace itself,3 You will never look upon salvation. The whole world and its members Are nothing but false brothers; Yet your flesh and blood hereby [by this falseness] Does itself pure flattery. |
| 4. Bete aber auch dabei Mitten in dem Wachen! Bitte bei der grossen Schuld Deinen Richter um Geduld, Soll er dich von Sünden frei Und gereinigt machen! |
4. But pray thereby, Also in the midst of watching. Ask your judge, In [the face of] your great guilt, for [his] patience, That he shall make you Cleansed, and free, from sin. |
| 5. Er sehnet sich nach unserm Schreien, Er neigt sein gnädig Ohr hierauf; Wenn Feinde sich auf unsern Schaden freuen, So siegen wir in seiner Kraft: Indem sein Sohn, in dem wir beten, Uns Mut und Kräfte schafft Und will als Helfer zu uns treten. |
5. He longs for our crying out; He inclines his merciful ear here to [our cries]. If enemies [should] rejoice at our adversity, Then we [will] triumph in his [God’s] strength, In that his son, in whom we pray, Gives us courage and strengths And wants to come to us as helper/savior. |
| 6. Drum so lasst uns immerdar Wachen, flehen, beten, Weil die Angst, Not und Gefahr Immer näher treten; Denn die Zeit Ist nicht weit, Da uns Gott wird richten Und die Welt vernichten. |
6. Thus let us then always Watch, plead, pray, Because fear, distress, and danger Come ever closer; For the time Is not distant When God will judge us And destroy the world. |
| (transl. Michael Marissen & Daniel R. Melamed) |
GENERAL NOTE: Movements 1 and 6 take their texts verbatim from the outer stanzas of the hymn “Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit.” The remaining movements paraphrase the content of the inner stanzas.
1 The confusing and somewhat convoluted sense of lines 3–5 is derived from Luther’s idiosyncratic rendering of Lamentations 1:14, “Meine schwere Sünden sind durch seine Strafe erwachet” (“My heavy sins are awakened through [the prospect of] his [God’s] punishment [namely, my temporal death]”). Also relevant here is Revelation 3:3, as glossed in the Calov study Bible, which Bach owned; it reads “So du nicht wirst wachen, werde ich über dich kommen [‘mit meinem Particular-Gericht, Luc. XII.39’] wie ein Dieb [‘plötzlich und unverhofft’]” (“If you will not [keep] watch, I [Christ] will assail you [‘with my particular judgment, (cf.) Luke 12:39’]”) like a thief [‘suddenly and unexpected’]”). “Particular judgment” is the divine judgment that a person faces immediately after death, followed by God’s “general judgment” (or, “last judgment”) of all people at the end time.
2 In older German, the expression “wo nicht” was a synonym for “wenn nicht” (“unless,” “if not”).
3 “Gnadenbund” (“covenant of grace”), is a technical term that refers to the covenant of God with humankind regarding their eternal salvation. Lutherans often called the covenant of God with ancient Israel the “Werkbund” (“covenant of works”) because they considered this covenant to be more tied to the notion of the merit of external works in God’s eyes, rather than to what they considered to be the New Testament’s teaching of a “Gnadenbund” in which justification in God’s eyes is merited only through the believer’s acceptance of God’s unmerited gift of Christian faith.
