| Christe, du Lamm Gottes, Der du trägst die Sünd1 der Welt, Erbarm dich unser! Christe, du Lamm Gottes, Der du trägst die Sünd der Welt, Erbarm dich unser! Christe, du Lamm Gottes, Der du trägst die Sünd der Welt, Gib uns deinen Frieden! Amen.2 Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison. |
Christ, you Lamb of God, You who bear the sin of the world,3 Have mercy on us. Christ, you Lamb of God, You who bear the sin of the world, Have mercy on us. Christ, you Lamb of God, You who bear the sin of the world, Grant us your peace. Amen. Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. |
| (transl. Michael Marissen & Daniel R. Melamed) |
GENERAL NOTE: This composition is likely to have been associated with the communion service, and thus probably best regarded as a setting of the German "Agnus Dei" (a portion of the Mass Ordinary chanted in connection with communion) supported by words borrowed from the "Kyrie eleison" of the Ordinary or from a version of the Litany. Bach used this music as a "Kyrie" setting in the Missa BWV 233, removing the "Agnus Dei" text.
1 Here, and throughout this movement, “Sünd” is a clipped form of the singular “Sünde” (“sin”), not of the plural “Sünden” (“sins”).
2 The German “Agnus Dei.”
3 John 1:29, “Siehe, das ist Gottes Lamm, welches der Welt Sünde traget” (“Look, this one is God’s lamb, which bears the sin [i.e., not: ‘the sins,’ plural] of the world”).
