Seventh Sunday after Trinity.

Poet unknown (Christoph Helm?);(1) PT (Rudolstadt, 1726).

1. Ps. 104:27-28; 4. Mt. 6:31-32; 7. Hans Vogel, verses 4 and 5 of "Singen wir aus Herzensgrund," 1563.

4 August 1726, Leipzig; Parody: 1, 2, 3, 5 ---> Mass in G Minor, BWV 235/6, 4, 3.

BG 37; NBA I/18.

First Part

1. Chorus [Dictum] (S, A, T, B)

Here look now all men to thee, that thou givest to them food at the proper time. When thou to them givest, they gather it; when thou openest thine hand, then are they with thy kindness well satisfied.

2. Recit. (B)

What creatures are contained
By this world's orb so vast!
Regard the mountains, then, how they are ranged in thousands;
What doth the sea not bear? The streams and seas are teeming.
The birds' expansive host
Glides through the air to plain.
Who feedeth such a toll,
And who can then supply them with the needs of nature?
Can any monarch set his sights upon such honor?
Could all the gold of earth
Buy them a single meal?(2)

3. Aria (A)

Thou Lord, thou dost alone the year crown with thy wealth.

Distilled are oil and blessing
Upon thy foot's own traces,
And it is thine own grace
Which ev'ry good thing doth.

Second Part

4. Aria [Dictum] (B)

Therefore do not be anxious and saying: "What will, then, our food be, what will, then, our drink be, what will we have, then, for clothing?" For after such things hanker the gentiles. For your own heavenly Father knows that by you all these are needed.

5. Aria (S)

God supplieth ev'ry being
Which here below breath doth keep.
Would he me alone not furnish
What to all he hath assured?
Yield, ye sorrows, his allegiance
Doth for me as well provide
And is for me daily proven
Through that Father's loving gifts.

6. Recit. (S)

If I can only cleave to him with childlike trusting
And take with gratitude what he for me hath planned,
Then I shall see myself unaided never
And how he e'en for me the debt hath paid in full.
All fretting is in vain, and wasted is the trouble
Which the despondent heart for its requirements makes;
Since God, forever rich, upon himself these cares hath taken,
I know that he for me as well my share hath fixed.

7. Chorale (S, A, T, B)

God hath the earth in fullness set,
And for its food lets it not lack;
Hill and vale he moisture gives
That the kine the grass may grow;
From the earth both wine and bread
God creates and gives our fill,
So that man his life may have.

We give great thanks and pray of him
That he give us the Spirit's will,
That we it well understand,
E'er in his commandments walk,
His name's honor magnify
In Christ and may never cease:
And we'll sing rightly "Gratias!"

1. Helm is suggested by W. Blankenburg, BJ (1977).

2. Mal is here translated as Mahl 'meal.' It might be simply the word Mal 'time,' in which case translate "buy this a single time."

© Copyright Z. Philip Ambrose

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