¹ Modern editions here give one word, “allzuscharfes.” Bach’s own score and performing part, however, give this as two words. An “allzuscharfes Urteil” might readily suggest an “excessively harsh [and unproductive] judgment.” An “allzu scharfes Urteil,” however, more readily suggests an “all too harsh [but productive] judgment,” the reading that makes more sense in this context.

² In Luke 1:42, it is said to the pregnant Mary of Nazareth, the mother of Jesus, “Gebenedeiet bist du unter den Weibern, und gebenedeiet ist die Frucht deines [Mutter‑]Leibes!” (“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb”).

³ Mary’s words of glorifying the Lord are found in Luke 1:46-55, the canticle that came to be called the “Magnificat,” from the Latin translation of Luke 1:46, “Et ait Maria: Magnificat anima mea Dominum” (“And Mary said: My soul magnifies the Lord”).

⁴ This is the language of Luke 1:48-49, where Mary says, “er hat die Niedrigkeit seiner Magd angesehen; . . . er hat grosse Dinge an mir getan” (“He [the Lord] has looked upon the lowliness of his maidservant; he has done great things to me”).

⁵ Some modern editions give “deine” (“your”) here (which does not make sense). Bach’s own score and performing part clearly read “seine” (“his”).

⁶ “Most High” is a name used frequently in the Hebrew Bible for the Lord God of Israel. In the New Testament, God the Father (but not Jesus, the Son) is called “Most High.”

⁷ God’s “arm” effects salvation (e.g., Isaiah 33:2).

⁸ “Die angenehme Zeit” is a biblical expression meaning “the acceptable (or, ‘propitious’) time,” not “the pleasant time.” The cantata’s poetry is a verbatim quotation of 2 Corinthians 6:2, “Jetzt ist die angenehme Zeit, jetzt ist der Tag des Heils” (“Now is the acceptable/propitious time [of mercy], now is the day of salvation [in Jesus]”). Luther described the “angenehme Zeit” as a Hebraism referring to God’s “Evangelische Zeit” (“time of the gospel”), marked by forgiveness and mercy in Jesus. The Luther Bibles of Bach’s day, for example, render Psalm 69:14 as “Ich aber bete, Herr, zu dir zur angenehmen Zeit” (“But I pray, Lord, to you at the acceptable/propitious time”).

⁹ “Heissen” seems here to be used in the older, specific sense of “befehlen” (“to command”).

¹⁰ This is an adaptation of Isaiah 40:3, “Bereitet dem Herrn den Weg, machet auf dem Gefilde eine ebene Bahn unserm Gott” (“Prepare the way for the Lord; make in the desert plains a smooth highway for our God”). In Christian interpretation of this verse, Jesus is the God for whom the highway is made. Jesus is apparently being asked, in the cantata poetry, to prepare the “highway” himself, such that he can then travel into the believer’s heart.

¹¹ A stanza of “Jesu, meiner Seelen Wonne.”

¹² Lutheran doctrine taught that one must not only believe in Jesus but also profess him openly. Human beings were said to be inherently tainted with sin, however, and thus unable to believe or profess without Jesus’s help. “Bekennen” (“to profess”) is akin to the “Christo Zeugnis geben” (“to bear witness of Christ”) in movement 1 of the cantata.

¹³ “Gelassenheit” is used here in its older sense of resignation and calmness associated with leaving things to God’s will, as opposed to its modern sense of general placidity or imperturbability.

¹⁴ This word is capitalized in Bach’s own score.

¹⁵ Bach’s original performing part here reads “dis,” a contemporary alternate spelling of “dies” (“this”), but Bach’s own score reads “das” (“the”).

¹⁶ Some modern editions read have mistranscribed Bach’s “merkt” (“take notice”) as “werd’t,” a contraction of “werdet” (“become”).

¹⁷ Some modern editions have mistranscribed Bach’s “euch” (“you”) as “uns” (“us”).

¹⁸ Some editions give the plural “Zungen” (“tongues”), which might reasonably make more sense in context. Bach’s own score and performing part clearly read “Zunge,” however, and this usage reflects biblical language. Psalm 126:2, for example, reads “Denn wird unser Mund voll Lachens und unsere Zunge voll Rühmens sein” (“Then our mouth will be full of laughing and our tongue full of gorifying”).

¹⁹ The meaning of this otherwise rather cryptic line is related to the sense of Psalm 139:15, which in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day reads “Es war dir mein Gebein nicht verholen, da ich im Verborgen gemacht ward, da ich gebildet ward unten in der Erden” (“To you [God], my skeletal frame was not concealed when I was made [by you] in the hidden place, when I was formed down in the ‘earth’ [deep in my mother’s womb]”). The notion of the earth as a “womb” is expressed clearly in Sirach 40:1 (41:26), which in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day reads “Es ist ein elend jämmerlich Ding um aller Menschen Leben, von Mutterleibe an, bis sie in die Erde begraben werden, die unser aller Mutter ist” (“Life is a miserable wretched thing for all persons, from the womb on, until they are buried in the earth, which is the mother of us all”).

²⁰ This is a quotation of Luke 1:15, which in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day reads “er wird noch in Mutterleibe erfüllet werden mit dem Heiligen Geist” (“he [John the Baptist] will yet in the womb [already] be filled with the Holy Spirit”).

²¹ The meaning of this otherwise cryptic line is related to the sense of Colossians 3:14, which in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day reads “Über alles aber ziehet an die Liebe, die da ist das Band der Vollkommenheit” (“Above all, however, put on [or, ‘clothe yourself with’] love, which then is the bond of [Christian] perfection”). By dint of the biblical source, the phrase “zieht der Liebe Band” is meant to understood as “zieht an der Liebe Band.”

²² The idea, promoted by Luther, is that even babies—already in the womb, at that—can be blessed by the Holy Spirit with Christian faith and some ability to profess it.

²³ Luke 1:44.

²⁴ “Aussprechen” is used here in its older sense of “to proclaim,” “to express fully.”

²⁵ The wonderwork Elizabeth proclaims, in Luke 1:41-44, is the Holy Spirit’s causing her baby to have leapt in the womb as a joyous expression of Christian faith.

²⁶ Namely, the Magnificat; see fn. 3, above. The language of this line is derived from Hebrews 13:15, “So lasset uns nun opfern, durch ihn, das Lobopfer Gott allezeit: das ist, die Frucht der Lippen, die seinen Namen bekennen” (“So let us now offer, through him [Jesus], the praise offering to God all the time: that is, the [verbal] fruit of the lips that profess his name”).

²⁷ “Ihr Gläubige” is a common alternative spelling to “ihr Gläubigen” for “you believers” (hyperliterally, “you believing [persons]”).

²⁸ This line—likewise, probably, line 12 of movement 4—alludes to Matthew 26:41, “Der Geist ist willig, aber das Fleisch ist schwach” (“The [person’s] spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak”).

²⁹ Some editions give “Wunden” (“[salvific] wounds [on the cross]”), but “Wundern” (“wonders”) is much more plausible all round.

³⁰ In poetry, “zwingen” is often used as a clipped form of “bezwingen” (“to vanquish/conquer/quell”).

³¹ In Luke 3:16, the adult John [the Baptist], preaching repentance in Israel, says “er wird . . . mit dem heiligen Geist und mit Feuer taufen” (“[I, John, have baptized you with water, but] he [Jesus] will baptize with the holy Spirit and with fire”).

³² A stanza of “Jesu, meiner Seelen Wonne.”

³³ The blood of Jesus, said in Lutheranism to be physically present in the consecrated wine of the sacrament of communion, is spoken of as a live-giving “Saft” in hymns and sermons. The hymn, for example, that closes Bach’s Cantata 136 begins “Dein Blut, der edle Saft, hat solche Stärk und Kraft” ([Jesus,] your blood, the noble sap, has such strength and power”). In Bach’s day, as now, the word “Blut” was sometimes employed to refer to the dark juice from plants and fruits.

³⁴ This line derives its sense from the wording and context of Psalm 27:1, which in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day reads “Der Herr ist meines Lebens Kraft; für wem sollt mir grauen?” (“The Lord is the [protecting] power of my life; before whom should I be afraid?”). The standard Latin Bible, the Vulgate, gives this passage as “Dominus protector vitæ meæ, a quo trepidabo?” (“The Lord is the protector of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?”).

³⁵ “Lust” can mean “delight” or “desire.” The phrase “Augen Lust,” however, appears a number of times in the Luther Bibles, where in context it seems to mean not “eyes’ delight” but “eyes’ desire.”