¹ Bach’s original performing part reads “der Mund” (literally, “the mouth”), but this too would in any event be properly rendered in English as “my mouth.”

² The first stanza of this chorale.

³ Technically, this should be the singular, “death throe,” but in current English, the plural is typically employed.

⁴ 1 Peter 1:4-5 promises “einem Erbe, das behalten wird im Himmel euch, die ihr aus Gottes Macht durch den Glauben bewahrt werdet zur Seligkeit, welche zubereitet ist, dass sie offenbar werde zu der letzten Zeit” (“an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you who out of the power of God through faith [in Christ] are preserved for [eternal] blessedness/salvation, which is prepared such that it might be manifest at the end time”).

⁵ “Was tut, ist” is apparently used here as a synonym for “was betrifft, ist” (“as for [something], [it] is”). “Was das . . . tut” facilitates a rhyme with “Ende . . . gut” in the proverb at the closing line of the movement.

⁶ “Die Werke deiner Hände” (“the works of your hands”) is a characteristic phrase in the book of Deuteronomy. It refers to the ordinary undertakings of daily life, not necessarily to any particular enterprise or line of work (e.g., manual labor). The expression also appears, most famously for Lutherans of Bach’s day, in Psalm 90:17, “Und der Herr, unser Gott . . . fördere das Werk unsrer Hände bei uns” (“And may the Lord our God . . . encourage the work of our hands among us”). The Calov Study Bible, owned by Bach, explains that “der Herr fördere das Werk unsrer Hände” means “der Herr ordne es zu einem guten Ende” (“may the Lord arrange it [that we come to a] to a good end”).

⁷ “Gleichsam” is apparently used here as a synonym for “ebenso” (“just as”).

⁸ Literally, “Because a good end, makes everything good.”

⁹ In mm. 42-44 the wording in the original Bach sources goes back and forth between “Fröhlich will ich folgen” and “Fröhlich folg ich.”

¹⁰ It is not clear whether the line “Into the tomb” belongs grammatically with the line before or the two lines after. The text underlay in Bach’s original materials (the only source for the text of this cantata) aria does not include any punctuation that could help resolve this ambiguity. Either way, the concluding lines project the sense that the “I” of the text takes his torments along with him into the tomb. With different editorial punctuation, though (as in some modern renderings of the libretto), the sense is “I intend to joyfully follow/obey the figure of death, when it summons me; I take all my torments with me into the tomb, for burial.” The way Bach’s musical setting is structured projects the sense as “I intend to joyfully follow the figure of death, when it summons, into the tomb; I take along, for burial, all my torments.”

¹¹ The first two lines of this movement closely resemble the lines “Willkommen! will ich sagen, / So bald der Tod ans Bette tritt” (“I intend to say ‘welcome’ / As soon as [the figure of] death approaches my bed”) that open the final movement in Erdmann Neumeister’s cantata libretto “Ich bin vergnügt im Unvergnügen” (“I am pleased in displeasure”), first published in 1705.

¹² This line derives its language from Philippians 1:23, “Ich habe Lust abzuscheiden und bei Christo zu sein” (“I [the apostle Paul] have the desire to depart [this earthly life] and to be with Christ [in heaven]”).

¹³ “Mich weiden” (i.e., using the reflexive form, ‘sich weiden,’ rather than the non-reflexive, “weiden”) here means “to revel,” not “to graze/pasture.”

¹⁴ The heavenly church—what the cantata libretto has styled “all the pious”—is called the “bride of the lamb [of God]” (i.e., the bride of Jesus) in Revelation 21:9.

¹⁵ This line relies for its sense on the language in Isaiah 40:31, “die auf den Herrn harren, kriegen neue Kraft, dass sie auffahren mit Flügeln wie Adler” (“they who wait for the Lord acquire new strength, that they ascend [to heaven] with wings like eagles”).

¹⁶ “Beschluss” is here an old-fashioned synonym for “Abschluss” (“ending”).

¹⁷ The original performing part for soprano, copied out by a student assistant, here reads “selge Ruh” (“blessed rest”), presumably in simple error. To a momentarily inattentive scribe the somewhat strange expression “stolze Ruh” might incorrectly register as the more normal-sounding “selge Ruh” (see also fn. 19, below).

¹⁸ The first stanza of this chorale.

¹⁹ “Stolze” here does not mean “proud.” It is being used as a synonym for “ehrenvolle” (“full of honor,” “honorable”). The puzzling expression “stolze Ruh” is derived from the phrase “in stolzer Ruhe” in Luther’s translation of Isaiah 32:18. Regarding this usage of “stolze,” Luther wrote: “Das Wörtlein ‘stolz,’ auf ebreisch ‘[shaanan],’ kann ich auf Deutsch nicht gnugsam geben; denn es heisst ‘sicher, gewiss, frei, ohne Sorge und Furcht sein,’ als wenn die grossen Herren sich so gar hoch auf ihr Gut und Gewalt verlassen” (“The little word ‘stolz’, in Hebrew, ‘[shaanan],’ I cannot give competently in German; for it means ‘to be safe, certain, free, without worries and fear,’ as [for example] when great gentlemen/lords [are able to] have confidence in their property and power so altogether highly”).