¹ Not all of Bach’s performances of Cantata 21 were divided into two parts.

² In the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day, the word here is not “erquicken” but the (past-tense) “ergetzten.” In older German, “ergetzen/ergötzen” meant “to bring enjoyment”; in modern German, however, “ergötzen” means “to amuse.” In the context of this cantata libretto, “erquicken” makes more sense than “ergetzten” (or “erquickten”).

³ Psalm 94:19.

⁴ This line is often given in modern editions as “Dort seh ich der Hölle Schlund” (“There I see the maw/chasm of hell”); and these words are presented as if they were the final line poem’s second section. Other times this line is edited (and likewise presented as if it were the final line) as “Dort seh ins der Hölle Schlund” (“There [I] see/look into the maw/abyss of hell”); but the contraction “ins” (for “in das”) does not make sense here, as “Schlund” is masculine and would require “in den,” not “ins.” In the original Bach materials, the end of this section in fact features two lines: "Dort seh in der Höllen Schlund [i.e., 'in dem Schlund der Hölle'], / Bäche von gesalznen Zähren" ("There [I] peer into the jaws of hell [and see:] / Streams of salted tears"). As in many aria texts from these years, then, the last line of the poem repeats the first.

⁵ The “Höllenschlund”—in English usually called “Hellmouth,” or “the Jaws of Hell”—is the entrance to hell, pictured as the yawning mouth of a whale or a huge monster.

⁶ See fn. 4, above.

⁷ Psalm 42:12 and 43:5.

⁸ “Helfen” (“to help/assist”) was one of Luther’s many metaphors for “to save” (that is, from a hellish life on earth, and from an afterlife in hell).

⁹ The “crown” (“Kron”) is the victory wreath placed on one’s head after a sports contest (“Kampf”). The soul’s earthly sojourn is understood as a metaphorical athletic race; at the end, the Christian believer receives the imperishable prize of a resurrected body. The crown, the athletic contest, and their related metaphors are laid out in 1 Corinthians 9:24-25, which in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day reads “Wisset ihr nicht, dass die, so in den Schranken laufen, die laufen alle, aber Einer erlanget das Kleinod? Laufet nun also, dass ihr es ergreifet. Ein jeglicher aber, der da kämpfet, enthält sich alles Dinges: jene also, dass sie eine vergängliche Krone empfangen; wir aber eine unvergängliche.” (“Do you not know that they who run in the race-course, run all; but [only] one gets the [prize-]medal? Now then, run, that you may obtain it [i.e., the prize medal]. But each man who competes, abstains from all things: those men [will exercise this self‑control], then, that they may receive a perishable crown [i.e., a victory wreath, whose leaves decay eventually]; but we [abstain so that we may receive] an imperishable one.”) See also 2 Timothy 2:5 and 4:7-8.

¹⁰ In this movement, the unwholesome “Unglückshöhle” (“misfortune-cavern”) of the soul is contrasted with the wholesome “Wundenhöhle” (“wound-cavity”) in the rib of the crucified Jesus; see also fn. 11, below.

¹¹ The “wound-cavity” is a reference to John 19:34, “Der Kriegsknechte einer eröffnete seine Seite mit einem Speer, und alsobald ging Blut und Wasser heraus” (“[Upon seeing that Jesus was dead on the cross,] one of the Roman soldiers opened his [Jesus’s] side with a spear, and immediately blood and water went out”). This miraculous blood-and-water have traditionally been interpreted as the blood/wine of the Sacrament of Communion and the water of the Sacrament of Baptism. The wound-cavity in Jesus’s rib was embraced as a metaphorical place of refuge for the Christian believer. For example, a chorale stanza in the Wagner Hymnal, owned by Bach, reads: “Jesu, . . . / Deiner Wunden Höhle / Ist mein Aufenthalt / . . . [Ich] finde Ruh / In der offnen Seiten Ritze / Da ich sicher sitze” (“Jesus, . . . your wound-cavity is my abode . . . I find rest/peace in the opened side’s cleft, where I sit securely”).

¹² “Heilen” (“to heal”) was another of Luther’s many metaphors for “to save”; see n. 8 above.

¹³ The “juice of the grape” is the wine of the Sacrament of Communion. The phrase “Saft der Reben” was famously employed in the Lutheran chorale “Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele,” one of whose stanzas reads “Vernunft . . . muss hier weichen, / Kann dies Wunder nicht erreichen, / . . . dass mit dem Saft der Reben, / uns wird Christi Blut gegeben” (“Reason must give way here; [it] cannot comprehend this miracle, that with the juice of the grape [the consecrated wine of Communion] the [real, physical] blood of Christ is given to us”).

¹⁴ Psalm 116:7.

¹⁵ Two stanzas of the chorale “Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten.”

¹⁶ The word “zufrieden” was apparently understood here in its older, general sense of being “at peace/rest” (“zu Frieden”), not in its more specific sense of being “satisfied/content.” The Calov Bible, listed in Bach’s library, explains that the Psalm’s “Sei nun wieder zufrieden” means “Kehre dich wieder zu deiner Ruhe” (“return to your rest/peace”).

¹⁷ “Kreuz” here means the suffering of metaphorically bearing/enduring the cross, as Jesus did literally. In the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day, Jesus says in Luke 14:27, “Wer nicht sein Kreuz trägt und mir nachfolget, der kann nicht mein Jünger sein” (“Whoever does not bear his cross and follow me, he cannot be my disciple”).

¹⁸ “Im Schosse” here does not refer to God’s lap. The turn of phrase is derived from “Abraham’s bosom,” an expression in Luke 16:19-31, the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Being “in someone’s bosom” referred to reclining at the right of the host (i.e., the place of honor) at a meal (e.g., John 13:23). In Luke 16:22-23, Lazarus is depicted as being, after his death, “in seinem Schosse” (“in his [Abraham’s] bosom”). Western Christianity came to use “Abraham’s bosom” as a designation for heaven.

¹⁹ The “Ziel” here evidently refers to the time limit set on a person’s life. Job 14:5, in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day, reads “Er hat seine bestimmte Zeit, die Zahl seiner Monden steht bei dir; du hast ein Ziel gesetzt, das wird er nicht übergehen” (“[A man] has his specified time, the number of his months is with you [God]; you have set a [time] limit that he will not go over”).

²⁰ Some editions mistakenly read not “mir” (“to me”) but “nur” (“only”).

²¹ In this context, “weil” is apparently meant to be understood in the older German sense of “so long as.”

²² Revelation 5:12b, 5:13c, 7:12b, 19:4b. (See also 1 Peter 5:11.)