O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort in D major, BWV 60 ""O Eternity, you word of Thunder""

Bach wrote the cantata in 1723 in his first year in Leipzig for the 24th Sunday after Trinity. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the Epistle to the Colossians, a prayer for the Colossians (Colossians 1:9–14), and from the Gospel of Matthew, the story of Jairus' daughter (Matthew 9:18–26). The unknown poet sees her rising as foreshadowing the resurrection, expected with an attitude of fear and hope. Two allegorical figures, Furcht (Fear) and Hoffnung (Hope) enter a dialogue. The cantata is opened and closed by a hymn, verse 1 of Johann Rist's "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort", expressing fear, and verse 5 of Franz Burmeister (de)'s "Es ist genug". Also in symmetry, two biblical words are juxtaposed in movements 1 and 4. "Herr, ich warte auf dein Heil" (Genesis 49:18), spoken by Jacob on his deathbed, expresses hope against the fear of the chorale. Selig sind die Toten (Blessed are the dead)(Revelation 14:13) is the answer to a recitative of Fear.