[3] The first Sunday after Trinity marks the beginning of the second half of the liturgical year, "in which core issues of faith and doctrine are explored".

[2] With BWV 20, Bach entered on a new scheme for the second cycle: to compose chorale cantatas based exclusively on the main Lutheran hymns associated with the day in the liturgical calendar.

In contrast the libretto of Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot took as its theme gratitude for God's gifts and the duty to share them with the needy.

The final section of the libretto is the sixth verse of David Denicke's 1648 hymn "Kommt, laßt euch den Herren lehren", which involves the same themes.

The melody was first published by Louis Bourgeois as Psalm 42 in his collection of Psaumes octante trios de David (Geneva, 1551).

[16] There are two sets of continuo parts from 1726: one is a score transposed for positive organ with figuration added by Bach in the first three movements; the other has annotations by the copyist for violoncello and double bass.

Ruëtz (1935) listed specific themes in movements of cantatas for which Bach had chosen the recorder: sleep, death, weeping, nature, sheep grazing, the singing of angels, and celestial light.

The crowning glory of the cantata is the opening chorus, varied, flexible, imaginative, every phrase is mirrored in music of superb quality.

The monumental first movement, a long and complex chorus initially superposed on an elaborate orchestral ritornello, exemplifies how Bach—"with perfect mastery"[2]—combined the considerable range of compositional skills at his disposal in BWV 39.

The first predominant motif consist of detached repeated quaver chords, passed antiphonally between the three instrumental groups of recorders, oboes and strings.

[4][27][25] Several commentators, most notably Spitta (1899) and more recently Dürr & Jones (2006), have interpreted the repeated quaver figures passed between different groups of instruments as "unmistakably depict[ing] the gesture of breaking bread.

The musicologist André Pirro notes that the A flat–D flat motif in the fugal subject on the word Elend is typical of Bach's use of suspended figures to evoke the burden of suffering and misery.

In the next concertino passage the bass theme is sung by the altos, while the sopranos sing a florid counter-theme with semiquaver scales—a long melisma on "kleide".

The beginning of the bass part provides a motif for the continuo accompaniment, which is imitated in counterpoint by the two alto recorders until the end of the section, producing a running line of semiquavers.

The fugue subject starts to the words "Alsdann wird dein Licht herfürbrechen wie die Morgenröte" in the tenor voice with an upbeat, continuing for seven bars as it begins a long melisma on the first syllable of "röte" (dawneth).

After a further seven bars the basses sing the last statement of the subject, accompanied by the full orchestra playing colla parte except for the two alto recorders, bringing the first fugato section to a close.

The alto recorders play fragmented quaver figures in unison some of which are derived from the angular three-note continuo motif, leading into the first seven bar homophonic choral passage.

The fugue subject, initially sung by the basses to the words "und die Herrlichkeit des Herrn wird dich zu sich nehmen", is a slight variant of the original one.

The alto recorders then briefly fall silent, while the basses unite with the continuo part, singing its independent musical material until the end of the episode.

Below the fugue subject in the two recorders, the altos and tenors sing imitative syncopated responses based on the counter-subject, leading up to the true entry of the sopranos.

With the recorders taking up the counter-subject, the sopranos sing the fugue subject at its expected pitch, with the imitative polyphony continuing in the middle voices, bringing the fugato episode to its concluding cadence.

With the same orchestral pairings as the fugato episode, the sopranos joyously sing out the beginning of the second fugue theme below trilling recorders before joining the polyphony of the other voices—with a last emphatic sospirans figure in the basses—for the final exultant rendition of the text.

It is an affecting picture of Christian love, softening with tender hand and pitying sympathy the sorrow of the brethren, and obtaining the highest reward."

[38] The second movement is a setting of a lengthy text beginning "Der reiche Gott wirft seinen Überfluss auf uns, die wir ohn ihn auch nicht den Odem haben" (The Lord provides: He pours his riches down on us; without this nothing here on earth would flourish).

This leads into an alto aria accompanied by obbligato violin and oboe: The theme of the text is that, although man may follow God's example during his lifetime, it is only in heaven that he will reap the benefits of the seeds he has sown.

[39][40] The aria starts with a ritornello in trio sonata form for the concertante solo violin and oboe over a steady continuo bass line.

The ritornello is made up of a continuous stream of distinctive semiquaver motifs played against sustained notes, which alternate between the two solo instruments as they respond to each other imitatively and in canon.

The alto enters with its own separate themes (see above) singing the first half of the text; the obbligato instruments weave a contrapuntal accompaniment around the vocal line with motifs from the ritornello.

The lengthy text begins "Wie soll ich dir, o Herr, denn sattsamlich vergelten, was du an Leib und Seel mir hast zugutgetan?"

The concluding chorale of the cantata is a plain four-part harmonisation of the sixth verse of David Denicke's hymn "Kommt, laßt euch den Herren lehren" (1648).