The fourth cantata of the Christmas Oratorio is essentially a pause for reflection, with minimal action. The opening chorus and the two arias come from the secular cantata BWV 213, “Hercules am Scheidewege” (“Hercules at a crossroads”).

The opening chorus has more restrained orchestration than the previous parts of the oratorio. It includes horns, oboes and strings but not trumpets or flutes. With its dance-like triple meter and key of F major, it invokes a climate of recollection and introspection. Bach uses two different motifs for “danken” (“thanks”) and “loben” (“praise”), which in the original version symbolize “care” and “vigilance”.

The only gospel segment (Luke 2: 21) is enunciated by the evangelist in the second movement. The salient aspect of this fragment is the name “Jesus” set to the highest note of the phrase.

Next is an accompanied recitative for bass, which reflects at length on the significance of the name of Jesus both in life and in death. The recitation becomes an “arioso” with the intervention of the sopranos of the choir who sing a chorale melody, probably composed by Bach, on a text by Johann Rist (1642).

The soprano aria that follows, with oboe and another soprano in echo (which in the original cantata literally refers to echo), is adapted by Bach to provide answers to the rhetorical questions of the text.

In number 5, Bach again uses the recitative structure with the bass and the sopranos on the chorale. The chorale verses complete Rist’s stanza started in movement 3. The text now focuses on the praise and honor of Jesus, and the following aria picks up the same theme.

The virtuosic aria that follows, structured as a quartet for tenor, two violins and basso continuo, illustrates the significant terms of the text with long melismas, which appear in all parts. The text of the original version of the aria refers to an eagle in flight, which explains the peculiar musical language.

The chorale that closes the cantata, whose text is a succession of invocations to the name of Jesus, is framed in a sophisticated orchestral structure that includes the full orchestra with independent parts.