Johann Sebastian Bach O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort

Eternity, thou thundrous word!
Thou sword to pierce my very soul,
begun, but never ending.
Eternity, thou timeless time,
I know not in my bitter grief
where I may now betake me,
with dread and fright my heart is wrung
and terror halts my palsied tongue.

Missfortune here on earth is ne’er so grievous
that ever it must last,
for finally there comes a day when it will leave us.
Yet, woe is me! eternal torment no abatement knows;
for day by day its desperation grows.
Yea, Christ has warned us well:
“How can ye escape the pains of Hell?”

Evermore! with dread I quiver,

...

O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort,
o Schwert, das durch die Seele bohrt,
o Anfang sonder Ende!
O Ewigkeit, Zeit ohne Zeit,
ich weiß von großer Traurigkeit
nicht, wo ich mich hinwende.
Mein ganz erschrocken Herz erbebt,
dass meine Zung am Gaumen klebt.

Kein Unglück ist in aller Welt zu finden,
das ewig dauernd sei:
Es muss doch endlich mit der Zeit einmal verschwinden.
Ach! aber ach! die Pein der Ewigkeit hat nur kein Ziel;
Sie treibet fort und fort ihr Marterspiel,
ja, wie selbst Jesus spricht,
aus ihr ist kein Erlösung nicht.

Ewigkeit, du machst mir bange,

...

Ulrich Leisinger
Tranlation: John Coombs

The cantata O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort BWV 20 (Eternity, thou thundrous word), marked the beginning of what was probably the most ambitious compositional project ever undertaken by Johann Sebastian Bach: this cantata opens the annual cycle of so-called chorale cantatas, which the Thomaskantor began to compose as his second annual cycle of church cantatas with a work for the 1st Sunday after Trinity in 1724.

This cantata is based on the hymn of the same name by Johann Rist, published in 1642, which was familiar in Leipzig through its inclusion in a hymn book assembled by Gottfried Vopelius (1682 with later reprints), in a version reduced from the original 16 verses to 12. With the exception of a recitative (No. 4) which combines two verses of the hymn, and two lines of verse 9 which are transferred to No. 9, each of the cantata movements is based on a verse of the hymn. The first, eighth and concluding verses are used unaltered. The other verses, set as recitatives and arias, follow the wording of the hymn closely; only in No. 10 has the librettist added a reference to the Gospel for the 1st Sunday after Trinity, the parable of the rich man

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