[2] The unknown poet included verse 19 from the Gospel to begin the cantata, later as movement 4 the first stanza of the chorale "Verzage nicht, o Häuflein klein" (1632) by Jakob Fabricius [de], which had been attributed also to Johann Michael Altenburg, and as the closing chorale two stanzas which had appeared added to Martin Luther's "Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort": "Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich", Luther's German version of Da pacem Domine (Give peace, Lord, 1531), and "Gib unsern Fürsten und all'r Obrigkeit" (Give our rulers and all lawgivers), a stanza by Johann Walter paraphrasing 1 Timothy 2:2 (1566), concluded with a final amen.

Bach scholar Alfred Dürr supposed that it is the same author who wrote Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden, BWV 6, first performed six days earlier on Easter Monday of 1725.

The cantata in seven movements is scored for soprano, alto, tenor, and bass soloists, a four-part choir only in the closing chorale, two oboes, bassoon, two violins, viola and basso continuo.

According to John Eliot Gardiner, this movement and the first aria are both taken from Bach's lost congratulatory cantata Der Himmel dacht auf Anhalts Ruhm und Glück, BWV 66a, celebrating the 24th birthday of Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen on 10 December 1718.

In movement 3, an aria marked adagio, the repetition is kept in the bassoon, but the strings hold long chords and the oboes play extended melodic lines.

Terry interprets that the bassoon obbligato was intended to accompany a chorale melody which "never actually sounded", conveying the "hiddenness" of the church in the world.

[7] The melody of the additional stanza ("Gieb unsern Fürsten") was first published in Das christlich Kinderlied D. Martini Lutheri in Wittenberg, 1566.