¹ This line is an adaptation of the various adaptations of Deuteronomy 6:5 that are found in Mark 12:30, Matthew 22:37, and Luke 10:27.

² Here the “n” in “Schatz der Seelen” is an old-fashioned singular genitive ending (thus, “the/my soul’s treasure”; not plural, “the souls’ treasure”).

³ The poet’s printing of this libretto includes three more lines after line 7: “Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt, / Die Welt, die böse Welt, / Die ihn erzürnet und betrübt” (“In such manner has God loved the world, / The world, the evil world / That enraged and aggrieved him”).

⁴ A grammatical but interpretively trivial note: this line appears to be a clipped version not of “O Liebe, welcher keine gleichkommt” (“Oh love, to which no [love] equals”) but “O Liebe, welcher keine gleich ist” (“Oh love, to which no [love] is equal”).

⁵ The general biblical sentiments behind lines 1–2 are found in 1 John 4:10, “Darin steht die Liebe: nicht, dass wir Gott geliebt haben, sondern dass er uns geliebt hat und gesandt seinen Sohn zur Versöhnung für unsere Sünden” (“Herein is the love: not that we have loved God, but that he has loved us and sent his son [to die on the cross] as the propitiation/reconciliation [i.e., a kind of ‘Erlösung/Lösegeld’ (‘redemption/ransom’)] for [the ‘slavery’ of] our sins”).

⁶ The sense of this line is derived from Acts 4:27, which in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day reads “Wahrlich ja, sie haben sich versammlet über dein heiliges Kind Jesum, welchen du gesalbet hast, Herodes und Pontius Pilatus, mit den Heiden und dem Volk Israel” (“Yes, in truth, over your holy child Jesus, whom you [God the father] have anointed [as messiah], they—Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the gentiles and the people of Israel—have gathered themselves together [to put Jesus to death on the cross]”). Luther Bibles after Bach’s day give not “über dein heiliges Kind Jesum” (“over your holy child Jesus”) but “gegen deinen heiligen Knecht Jesus” (“against your holy servant Jesus”).

⁷ The sense of this line is derived from Isaiah 53:12, “er sein Leben zum Schuldopfer gegeben hat … er sein Leben in den Tod gegeben hat … und er vieler Sünde getragen hat” (“he [the LORD, God the father] has given his [the suffering servant’s—in Christian interpretation traditionally understood prophetically to be God the son’s, Jesus’s] life as a guilt offering … he [the suffering servant] has given his [own] life unto death … and he has borne the sin of many”).

⁸ In this older-German usage, “verscherzen” does not mean “to make fun of”; it is a synonym for “verschwenden” (“to squander”).

⁹ As expressed in movement 1.

¹⁰ As expressed in movement 4.

¹¹ This line draws on Luther’s rendering of John 3:16, “Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt, dass er seinen eingeborenen Sohn gab, auf dass alle, die an ihn glauben, nicht verloren werden, sondern das ewige Leben haben” (“In such manner has God loved the world that he gave his only-begotten son [Jesus], so that all who believe in him [Jesus] will not be lost but have eternal life”). The sense of Luther’s translation differs in several respects from the extremely well-known rendering of the King James Bible, “For God so [greatly] loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

¹² The words of scripture just quoted in line 8 of this movement (John 3:16) were from the gospel portion (John 3:16-21) chanted on the liturgical occasion that this cantata was designed for.

¹³ The word “Panier” ordinarily denotes simply a military flag, but the poet is here apparently also drawing on Song of Songs 2:4, where the female lover proclaims of her beloved, “die Liebe ist sein Panier über mir” (“Love is his banner over me”), a passage the meaning of whose underlying Hebrew text is uncertain, but which was taken prophetically in the Lutheranism of Bach’s day and earlier to mean that Christ the bridegroom’s love, as expressed in his sacrificial death on the cross, is his banner of protection over his bride, the church.

¹⁴ In orthodox Lutheranism, possessing the unmerited gift of faith in Christ, by consciously accepting God’s offer of grace, was required for salvation.

¹⁵ In the Luther Bibles of Bach day, Revelation 2:10, reads “Sei getreu bis an den Tod, so will ich dir die Krone des Lebens geben” (“Be faithful up to the [point of] death, and I [Jesus] will give you the [victor’s] crown of [eternal] life”), and Mark 13:13 reads “Wer aber beharrt bis an das Ende, der wird selig” (“But whoever persists [in his faith] up to the end [of this life and its troubles], he will be [eternally] blessed”).

¹⁶ Some modern editions give “Herr” (“Lord”) here, but Bach himself wrote “Und” (“And”).

¹⁷ The first stanza of this hymn.

¹⁸ In the poet’s printed libretto, where only lines 1–2 of the stanza are indicated, this line reads, “Ich bitt, du wollst sein von mir nicht fern” (“May you, I implore, be not far from me”).

¹⁹ In the language of the Luther Bible, “Hilfe” (or “Hülfe”) can mean “help” in general or “salvation” in particular.

²⁰ An adaptation of Luther’s idiosyncratic rendering of Psalm 73:25, “Wenn ich nur dich habe, so frage ich nichts nach Himmel und Erden” (“If only I have you, then I ask nothing of heaven and earth”).

²¹ An adaptation of Psalm 73:26, “Wenn mir gleich Leib und Seele verschmachtet, so bist du doch, Gott, allezeit meines Herzens Trost und mein Teil” (“When my body and soul alike languishes, then are you, God, yet always [into eternity] the consolation of my heart and my [spiritual] portion”).

²² “Etwas zuschanden machen” or “etwas zu Schanden machen,” in modern German, can mean “to wreck something” or “to bring something to harm.” The language and sense of this line, however, is derived from Psalm 31:1, which in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day reads “HERR, auf dich traue ich, lass mich nimmermehr zuschanden werden” (“LORD, in you I trust; let me never be put to shame” [i.e., the underlying Hebrew word here connotes “shame,” not “harm”]).