Johann Sebastian Bach Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit

Were God not with us here today,
when foes so sore assail us,
fainthearted, would we all then say:
“Our courage surely will fail us”;
for we were but a feeble band,
despised by foes on ev’ry hand,
did not thy might avail us.

Our own might is far too weak
from our foes itself to fend us.
Stood not he, in majesty,
there to foil their tyranny,
soon into atoms they would rend us.

Yea, had not God his folk defended,
long, long ago our lives were ended,
for they would tear us limb from limb,
their fury is so fierce and grim.
Our foes would have our blood

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Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit,
so soll Israel sagen,
wir hätten müssen verzagen,
die so ein armes Häuflein sind,
veracht‘ von so viel Menschenkind,
die an uns setzen alle.

2 Aria (Soprano) Unsre Stärke heißt zu schwach,
unserm Feind zu widerstehen.
Stünd uns nicht der Höchste bei,
würd uns ihre Tyrannei
bald bis an das Leben gehen.

Ja, hätt es Gott nur zugegeben,
wir wären längst nicht mehr am Leben,
sie rissen uns aus Rachgier hin,
so zornig ist auf uns ihr Sinn.
Es hätt uns ihre Wut

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Ulrich Leisinger
Translation: John Coombs

With the appointment of Johann August Ernesti on the 16th November 1734 as headmaster of the Thomasschule and therefore successor to Matthias Gessner, who had recently received the prestigious appointment as founding rector of the University of Göttingen, the balance of power in the Leipzig Thomasschule altered considerably. As Bach knew since 1731 through his position as second master, the younger Ernesti was far more interested in the sciences than in the fine arts. It must therefore have appeared to Bach all the more important to produce new church compositions which would add lustre to what he considered to be the honourable tradition of the Thomasschule. For the Sundays and feast days of the period between Christmas Day 1734 and Epiphany 1735 he wrote the Christmas Oratorio. Which section of that work was performed on each of the Sundays after Epiphany can no longer be ascertained, but for the Sunday after Epiphany, which in 1735 fell on the 30th January, Bach produced a new, highly ambitious work, the cantata Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit (Were God not with us here today), BWV 14. This is one of the last of Bach’s

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