Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata Es ist das Heil uns kommen her (It is our salvation come here to us),[1] BWV 9 in Leipzig for the sixth Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 1 August 1734.

He gave all three recitatives to the bass, like a sermon interrupted in reflection by a tenor aria with solo violin and a duet of soprano and alto with the wind instruments.

[3] The cantata is based on a hymn "Es ist das Heil uns kommen her" by Paul Speratus, which was published in 1524 in the Achtliederbuch, the first Lutheran hymnal.

He scored it for a chamber music ensemble of four vocal soloists (soprano (S), alto (A), tenor (T) and bass (B)), a four-part choir SATB, flauto traverso (Ft), oboe d'amore (Oa), two violins (Vl), one of them solo (Vs), viola (Va), and basso continuo (Bc).

[4][6] The autograph title page reads: "Dominica 6. post Trinitatis / Es ist das Heil uns kommen her / a / 4 Voci / 1 Traversa / 1 Hautb: d'Amour / 2 Violini / Viola / e / Continuo / di / Joh:Sebast:Bach".

The opening chorus, "Es ist das Heil uns kommen her" (It is our salvation come here to us),[1] is a chorale fantasia, the vocal part embedded in a concerto of the instruments.

[4][5] "Gott gab uns ein Gesetz" (God gave us the Law),[1] is the first of three recitatives which are sung by the bass as the vox Christi (voice of Christ), almost like one sermon, which is only deepened by the two arias in between.

[6] The tenor aria depicts the "sinking" of "Wir waren schon zu tief gesunken" (We were already too deeply sunk)[1] in downward motifs and an irregular rhythm of syncopes, observed by Dürr as an image of "a giddy descent into the abyss of sin".

[1] The duet "Herr, du siehst statt guter Werke" (Lord, you see, instead of good works)[1] is set for five parts of equal weight, the soprano and alto voices, flute, oboe d'amore and continuo, in intricate canonic counterpoint in da capo form.