¹ In the librettist’s printed book of poetry this reads not “schwerlich” (“scarcely,” “not easily”) but “nimmer” (“never”). To say that “this [moral] debt is ‘never’ [to be] redressed through prayer” may have been considered theologically questionable by many orthodox Lutherans. It is unknown when and through whom the cantata’s wording “schwerlich” originated.

² The image of Satan, encountered in life under the taint of sin, is to be contrasted with the proper image of God (as narrated in Genesis 1:26) that the first humans, Adam and Eve, had been created with—they corrupted this image by falling into sin.

³ The antecedent for the “der” (“that”) here is not “Mund” (“mouth”) but “Gift” (“poison”). In modern German, “Gift” is neuter and thus would use not “der” but “das.” In older German, this word could be masculine (“der Gift”), feminine (“die Gift”), or neuter (“das Gift”). James 3:8, in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day, employed “Gift” as feminine, declaring that “die Zunge [ist] voll tödlicher Gift” (“the [speech of the evil human] tongue [is] full of deadly poison”); later Luther Bibles changed this to “tödlichen Giftes.”

⁴ “Racha” should not be confused with the word “Rache” (“revenge,” “vengeance”). The libretto’s word “Racha” is an ancient Aramaic term of abuse (in English, “[You] blockhead!”) that is given untranslated as “rhaka” in the Greek of the New Testament (in Matthew 5:22, which is part of the gospel portion chanted on the liturgical occasion for which Bach composed this cantata) and is likewise untranslated, as “Racha,” in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day.

⁵ “Verbeten” is an old-fashioned synonym for the expression “durch beten beseitigen” (“to remediate/redress through prayer”).

⁶ This line indirectly alludes to one of the most well-known and widely used prayers in Christianity, “The Lord’s Prayer,” versions of which are found in Matthew 6:7-15, Mark 11:25[-26], and Luke 11:1-4. In the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day, Matthew 6:12 reads “Und vergib uns unsere Schulden, wie wir unsren Schuldigern vergeben” (“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”); the parallel, Luke 11:4, reads “Und vergib uns unsre Sünden, denn auch wir vergeben allen, die uns schuldig sind” (“And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive all who are indebted to us”).

⁷ In the librettist’s printed book of poetry this reads not “magstu” (“may you”) but “mustu” (“must you”).

⁸ In this context, the adjective “verkehrt” connotes moral perversity. The language of this line is derived from Proverbs 11:20, “Der HERR hat Greuel an den verkehrten Herzen” (“The LORD has abhorrence of perverse hearts”).

⁹ For such usages as here, the verb “jammern” was defined in older German as “zum höchsten Grade des Mitleidens bewegen” (“to be moved to the highest degree of compassion”). The previous movement speaks of “God who loves,” and this line expresses a parallel sentiment on the part of the poem’s voice.

¹⁰ With regard to “may you” versus “must you,” see fn. 7, above.

¹¹ This line draws for its sense on Proverbs 14:22, which in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day reads “Die mit bösen Ränken umgehen, werden fehlen” (“[Those] who deal with evil machinations will err”).

¹² The “scharfes Strafgebot” (a singular “commandment, decreed under threat of severe punishment”—i.e., not plural commandments or precepts) here refers to the culmination of what Jesus says in Matthew 5:21-22, “Ihr habt gehört, dass zu den Alten gesagt ist: Du sollt nicht töten; wer aber tötet, der soll des Gerichts schuldig sein; ich aber sage euch: Wer mit seinem Bruder zürnet, der ist des Gerichts schuldig; wer aber zu seinem Bruder sagt, Racha, der ist des Rats schuldig; wer aber sagt: du Narr, der ist des höllischen Feuers schuldig” (“You have heard that it was said to the ancients [of Israel], ‘You shall not kill; but whoever kills, he shall be culpable of judgment’; but I say to you, ‘Whoever is angry with his brother, he is culpable of judgment; but whoever says “Racha” to his brother, he is culpable of the council; but whoever says “you fool,” he is culpable of the infernal fire’”). With regard to the exclamation of “Racha,” see fn. 4, above.

¹³ The last word in this line is difficult to decipher in Bach’s own score; it seems to read as “Gall,” and “Gall” is indeed what Bach’s assistant copyist wrote here in the original separate performing part. The librettist’s printed book of poetry gives “Groll” (“rancor”), which rhymes more closely with the “soll” of two lines earlier. Both “Zorn und Groll” (“wrath and rancor”) and “Zorn und Gall” (“wrath and [figurative] venom”) were established expressions in Bach’s day (the latter, which is the harsher of the two, is now obsolete). Modern editions of the cantata give “Groll,” perhaps in part on account of a mistaken notion that “Gall” would be contextually improbable here.

¹⁴ The antecedent for “his love” being God’s love for humanity is found at line 10 in movement 2.

¹⁵ Loving one’s enemy is prescribed in Matthew 5:44 and Luke 6:35. But with the words “soll,” “lieben,” and “wie,” there are also echos in these lines of the command written in Leviticus 19:18, “Du sollt deinen Nächsten lieben wie dich selbst, denn ich bin der HERR” (“You shall love your neighbor as yourself, for I am the LORD”).

¹⁶ These lines, with their use of “auch” (here apparently “even,” i.e., not “also” or “too”) and “Feind” (“enemy”), probably draw for their sense on Proverbs 16:7, “Wenn jemands Wege dem HERRN wohlgefallen, so machet er auch seine Feinde mit ihm zufrieden” (“If someone’s ways please the LORD well, then he [the LORD] makes even his [the someone’s] enemies to be at peace with him [the someone]”).

¹⁷ “Gall” had a wide variety of meanings in older German; here it apparently connotes (figurative) “venom.” On “Gall” versus “Groll” as the wording here, see fn. 13, above.

¹⁸ 1 John 4:8, “Gott ist die Liebe” (“God is love”).

¹⁹ This is the “concord” of line 3 in movement 1.

²⁰ A heavenly Zion is spoken of in Hebrews 12:22, which in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day reads “ihr seid kommen zu dem Berge Zion und zu der Stadt des lebendigen Gottes, zu dem himmlischen Jerusalem” (“you [followers of Jesus] are come [from the earthly mount Sinai of the law] to the [heavenly] mount Zion [of the gospel] and to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem”).

²¹ This line is sometimes given as “Wo selbst ich ruhig bin,” yielding the sense “Where I myself am [to be] at rest” or “Where even I am [to be] at rest.” The line should read, however, not with the two words “wo selbst” but the one word “woselbst.” The latter is is an old-fashioned, intensified form of “wo” (“where”), a prepositional fusion of “wo” and “daselbst” (“in said place”), meaning “the very place where”; it is sometimes employed in poetry just to accommodate the need for an extra syllable.

²² “Hinnehmen” can simply be a synonym for “annehmen” (“to accept”), but it was also used in such expressions as “Gott hat ihn hingenommen” (“God has taken him [from this world] away/there/up [into heaven]”).

²³ The verb “grauen” had a wide variety of meanings in older German. The more common use was as a synonym for “erschrecken” (“to horrify”), and the word was often employed in this sense in connection with “Sünde” (“sin).” A less common usage, the one apparently encountered here (even though employed in connection with “sin”), is as a synonym for “ekeln” (“to irk”; or, “to feel a sickening dread”; or, “to feel nausea/revulsion”).