J.S. Bach’s Sunday Canata: Cantate
Johann Sebastian Bach (aged 61) in a portrait by Elias Gottlob Haussmann, second version of his 1746 canvas. Bach is holding a copy of the six-part canon BWV 1076.
Johann Sebastian Bach composed weekly cantatas to accompany the Sundays and feast days of the Historic Lectionary—a cycle of Scripture readings used by Christians for centuries. This lectionary shaped the worship life of the Western Church, including Roman Catholics until the reforms of Vatican II, and remains in use today among many Lutheran congregations, including our own here at St. Thomas.
These cantatas are not merely concerts—they are sermons in music. Each one beautifully unites Scripture, sacred poetry, and hymnody, often incorporating chorales that are still sung in our services today. Bach’s music proclaims the Word of God with emotional depth and theological clarity, offering both comfort and exhortation to the faithful.
The English translation and textual notes for this week’s cantata are drawn from bachcantatatexts.org. We pray that the Word of Christ, communicated through this sacred music, strengthens your faith and prepares your heart to hear God’s Word preached this Cantate Sunday.
Readings for Cantate Sunday
Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. James 1:16-21
But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. John 16:5-15
Performance Recording
English Translation
It is good for you [disciples] that I [Jesus] should go there [to heaven];3 for if I should not go there, then the Comforter [Holy Spirit]4 will not come to you. But if I should go, I will send him to you.
No doubt can hinder me
In hearing your word,6 Lord [Jesus].
I believe that if you go away [to heaven],7
Then I can hope with confidence8
That I will come to the wished-for haven,9
To the [place of the] redeemed [of God].10Your [Holy] Spirit11 will thus govern me
That I may go on the right course;12
Through your going there [to heaven]13 he [your Spirit] indeed comes to me;
I ask, full of worrying: Ah, is he not here yet?But when that one [the Comforter], the Spirit of Truth,15 will come, he will guide you into16 all truth. For he will not speak out of his own [authority];17 rather, what he will hear,18 this will he speak; and what is in the future, [this] will he proclaim.19
What my heart desires from you [Jesus],
Ah, that will assuredly be granted to me.
Shower me with blessings;20
Lead me on your paths,
So that in eternity
I may look upon your glory.Your22 [Holy] Spirit,23 whom God gives24 from heaven,
He [the Spirit] guides everything that loves him [God]
On the well-cleared path [of the upright].25
He places and directs our foot
So that it does not have to tread other
Than where one finds blessing.21
Christiane Mariane von Ziegler (transl. Michael Marissen & Daniel R. Melamed)
Scripture References
John 16:7
"Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you."
Quoted directly in: “It is good for you that I should go… for if I should not go… the Comforter will not come to you. But if I should go, I will send him to you.”
John 16:13
"However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth…"
Quoted directly in: “But when that one, the Spirit of Truth, will come, he will guide you into all truth.”
John 16:13–14
"For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come."
Quoted directly in: “For he will not speak out of his own [authority]; rather, what he will hear, this will he speak; and what is in the future, [this] will he proclaim.”
John 14:2–3
"In My Father’s house are many mansions... I go to prepare a place for you... I will come again and receive you to Myself..."
Referenced in: “If you go away, then I can hope with confidence that I will come to the wished-for haven.”
Philippians 3:20
"For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior..."
Referenced in: “Then I can hope with confidence that I will come to the wished-for haven, to the redeemed.”
Romans 8:14
"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God."
Reflected in: “Your Holy Spirit will thus govern me that I may go on the right course…”
Galatians 5:25
"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."
Implied in: “He places and directs our foot so that it does not have to tread other than where one finds blessing.”
John 14:16–17
"I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper... the Spirit of truth…"
Referenced in: “Your Spirit… whom God gives from heaven…”
John 15:26
"But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father…"
Referenced in: “Your Spirit… whom God gives from heaven…”
Romans 5:5
"The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."
Echoed in: “Your Spirit… whom God gives from heaven…”
John 17:24
"Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory…"
Referenced in: “So that in eternity I may look upon your glory.”
Psalm 119:105
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."
Reflected in: “He places and directs our foot… where one finds blessing.”
Psalm 25:12
"Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses."
Implied in: “He guides everything that loves him on the well-cleared path.”
Proverbs 3:5–6
"In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."
Implied in: “He places and directs our foot…”
Hymns We Still Sing
Walther’s Hymnal 130, “O Father, Send Thy Spirit Down”
Tune: Kommt her zu mir, spricht Gottes Sohn. 41. [TLH 263; LSB 666 (mel.)]
O Father, send Thy Spirit down
From heaven'‘s height, for whom Thy Son
Bade us to pray unfearing
We ask Thee even as He taught
Oh, let us from Thy throne go not
Without a gracious hearing!No earthly mortal dwelling here
Is worthy of this gift so dear,
No work of merit owning;
That love and grace alone avail
Which Jesus Christ by His travail
Obtained, our sins atoning.O Father, much it grieves Thy mind
Us in such woeful plight to find,
As Adam’s fall hath wrought us;
The evil one by this same fall
O’erpowered Adam and us all
And into slavery brought us.In our salvation we confide,
Assured, Lord, that we shall abide
Through Christ Thy portion ever;
And thro’ His death and precious blood,
Our mansions fair and highest good
We look for, doubting never.This is a work of grace indeed,
The Holy Spirit’s strength we need,
Our pow’r is unavailing;
Our faith and hope, however high,
Would soon, O Lord, in ashes lie,
Were not Thy help unfailing.Of faith Thy Spirit keeps the light,
Though all the world against us fight,
And storm with every weapon.
Although the prince of this world come
To take the field ‘gainst Christendom,
No ill through him can happen.The Spirit’s is the winning side,
And where He helps, the battle’s tide
Before us soon must founder.
What is the devil’s mighty band?
When God’s own kingdom lifts its hand,
It all will fall asunder.The chains of hell He rends in twain,
Consoles and frees the heart again
From everything that grieveth;
And when misfortunes o’er us low’r
He shields us better in their hour,
Than ever heart conceiveth.The bitter cross He maketh sweet,
In darkness lights our wand’ring feet,
And like His sheep He leads us,
Holds o’er His flock His shield and might,
And in the dark and gloomy night
To peaceful slumber bids us.The Spirit from God’s heav’nly hall
Directs in ways of safety all
Whose love for Him He knoweth;
He guides our goings every day,
Lest from the path we ever stray
That in His blessing goeth.He maketh fit and furnishes
The ministers appointed His,
The Lord’s house here sustaining;
Adorns their minds and mouths and hearts,
And light to them for us imparts,
What’s dark to us explaining.Our hearts He opens secretly
When they His Word with constancy,
Like precious seed, are sowing;
This Word He with His pow’r supplies
That it take root and spring and rise,
And so He tends its growing.The fear of God He teacheth well,
Loves purity and loves to dwell
In faithful souls and holy;
The contrite, who all good revere,
Repent, and turn to Him in fear
And love, He chooseth solely.He’s true, and true doth e’er abide,
In death’s dark hour He’s at our side,
When all things else forsake us;
He soothes our sorrows when we die,
And to the halls of bliss on high
With peace and joy shall take us.Oh, happy are the souls and blest,
Who while on earth permit this Guest
To make in them His dwelling;
Those who receive Him in this day
To endless bliss He will convey—
God’s tabernacle filling.Now Lord and Father of all good,
Hear our request, and like a flood
Pour in our hearts this Blessing;
Thy Spirit give, that here He may
Rule us, and there in endless day
Refresh us without ceasing.
Text: Paul Gerhard, 1653; tr., J. Kelly, 1867, alt.
Translation Notes
1 This word—“so” (“then”)—appears in m. 25 of Bach’s setting but is lacking in m. 18.
2 John 16:7 (verbatim; i.e., including the “so” [“then”] discussed in fn. 1, above).
3 On Jesus “going there,” see fn. 13, below. Not only the “come” verb but also the “go” verbs are subjunctive in the underlying Greek text of John 16:7, including where they are not preceded by the word “ean” (“if”), suggesting their translation as “should come” and “should go.” In Luther’s German rendering, the “go” verbs are likewise probably subjunctive (“should go”) but the “come” verb is indicative (“will come”—“kömmt” is simply an archaic spelling of “kommt”).
4 At the time of the writing of the Gospel of John, the Greek term “ho parakletos” (“the paraclete”), which Luther rendered as “the Comforter,” apparently carried a range of meanings, from “the [legal] advocate/helper” to “the [all-purpose] comforter/helper” (inclining, however, toward the legal connotation). Luther, following traditional interpretation since the time of the early postbiblical church fathers, took John’s term to be a title for the Third Person of the Trinitarian God, “the Holy Spirit” (John 14:26 had identified “the paraclete/Paraclete” with “the holy/Holy spirit/Spirit” that God would send after Jesus had departed).
5 In Bach’s own score this word is “gewünschten” (“wished-for”/“desired”), but in his separate performing part, copied by an assistant, the text reads “erwünschten” (“welcome”/“desired”).
6 That is, the “word” of Jesus in John 16:7 that was proclaimed in the first movement.
7 “Fortgehen” (“to go away”) here acts a synonym for the “hingehen” (“to go [from here to over] there”) in movement 1. See fn. 13, below.
8 The reflexive “sich getrösten” is an older German verb with several related meanings; in the context of this cantata movement it has the sense of “to place one’s hope and/or confidence in something/someone.”
9 This is a standard baroque metaphor. The desired “Port” (“haven”/“harbor”) is that of the heavenly city, the “new Jerusalem” (see fn. 10, below).
10 This line’s expression “the redeemed” stems from Isaiah 35:10, “Die Erlösten des Herrn werden wiederkommen” (“the redeemed of the Lord will come back [to Zion/Jerusalem, from captivity in Babylon]”). Traditional Christian interpretation took this passage to be a foreshadowing of Christian believers returning, at the resurrection of the dead, from their miserable captivity in the earthly “old Jerusalem” (caused by “the Fall” of Adam and Eve, and thus of their progeny, into sin) to their joyful freedom in the heavenly “new Jerusalem” (where they will be restored to the sinless state in which Adam and Eve had been created by God).
11 “Geist” here would be understood as “the Holy Spirit.” This line alludes to Galatians 5:18, “Regiert euch aber der Geist, so seid ihr nicht unter dem Gesetz” (“But if the [Holy] Spirit governs you [followers of Jesus], then you are not under the Law [of Moses]”). Luther took the word “Geist” in this verse to refer to God, the Holy Spirit (see also fn. 4, above).
12 An allusion to Psalm 143:10, “du bist mein Gott; dein guter Geist führe mich auf ebener Bahn” (“you are my God; may your benign Spirit lead me on the even course”). Luther took the “Geist” in this verse, too, to refer to God, the Holy Spirit (see also fn. 4 and fn. 11, above).
13 “Hingang” (“going there/away”), essentially an archaic synonym for “Weggang” (“going away”/“departure”), was the term used in Lutheran discourse for Jesus’s “going away” from the world up “there” to God the father in heaven (hence Bach’s setting the “Hin” in “Hingang” to the highest note in this movement), with the idea that Jesus would eventually come back and that in the meantime the Holy Spirit would comfort his followers. In later German, “Hingang” came to be used as a synonym for “Tod” (“death”; i.e., one’s departure from earthly life), or as a synonym for “Ruhr” (“dysentery”).
14 John 16:14.
15 Because this title is linked in the Gospel of John to the title that Luther had rendered as “the Comforter” (see fn. 4, above), Luther took “the Spirit of Truth” likewise to be a title for the Third Person of the Trinitarian God, “the Holy Spirit.”
16 The sources of the original Greek wording of Gospel of John are divided on whether this preposition should be “eis” (“into”) or “en” (“in”). The Greek source for the text transmitted in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day gives “eis,” and accordingly Luther’s “in alle Wahrheit”—i.e., using the accusative “in alle Wahrheit,” not the dative “in aller Wahrheit”—calls for “into all truth,” not “in all truth.”
17 That is, “the [Holy] Spirit” speaks on the authority of what God the father communicates to him. John 12:49 and 14:10 say that Jesus, the son, likewise speaks not “out of his own” but out of the authority of God the father.
18 That is, this concerns what “the [Holy] Spirit” (the Third Person of the Trinity) would “hear” in communication from God the father (the First Person), or Jesus (the Second Person), or both, or from the father through the son.
19 Luther took this to mean that the Holy Spirit will proclaim to the followers of Jesus not only what they should believe and do but also what the future holds specifically for Christianity.
20 “Segen” here is probably plural here but could be singular. The line clearly alludes to Psalm 21:4, but the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day variously give that passage either as “du überschüttest ihn mit guten Segen” (“you [God] shower him [King David] with benign blessings”), or as “du überschüttest ihn mit gutem Segen” (“you shower him with benign blessing”). In the Hebrew text of Psalm 21:4 the noun is plural (literally, “blessings of goodness”).
21 A stanza of “Gott Vater, sende deinen Geist.”
22 The hymn books read not “dein Geist” (“your Spirit”) but “der Geist” (“the Spirit”). The cantata’s reading is presumably meant to echo the “dein Geist” from line 1 in movement 3, where the “your” applies to Jesus.
23 The Spirit/Comforter guides the followers of Jesus, according to John 16:13, the text of movement 4.
24 The sense of this line is derived from John 3:34, which in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day reads “Welchen Gott gesandt hat, der redet Gottes Wort; denn Gott gibt den Geist nicht nach dem Mass; der Vater hat den Sohn lieb und hat ihm alles in seine Hand gegeben” (“He [Jesus], whom God has sent [from above, into the world], speaks God’s word; for God gives [Jesus] the Spirit not according to [finite] measure; [God] the father loves the son [Jesus] and, into his hand, has given him everything”).
25 The sense of this line is derived from Proverbs 15:19, which in the Luther Bibles of Bach’s day reads “Der Weg des Faulen ist dornigt, aber der Weg der Frommen ist wohl gebähnt” (“The path of the lazy man is hedged with thorns, but the path of upright men is well-cleared [of such impediments]”); some Luther Bibles of Bach’s day, however, give “wohl gebaut” (“well-built”). In older German the verb “bahnen” can carry the same meaning as the English-dialect verb “boon” (“to repair/clear a road/path”). That the Spirit guides people on the right course/path is expressed in Psalm 143:10 (see fn. 12, above).
