Es ist ein trotzig und verzagt Ding (There is something defiant and fainthearted), [1] BWV 176, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach.

She used the eighth stanza of Paul Gerhardt's hymn "Was alle Weisheit in der Welt" (1653) as a closing chorale,[5] sung to the same melody as "Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam".

A complex theme illustrates both contrasting aspects that Jeremiah mentioned of the human heart, rendering "trotzig" (defiant) twice, once in a repeated high note reached by a triad fanfare, then in an upward run with a surprising modulation, whereas "verzagt" (timid) appears as a sighing motif in chromatism.

[2] Klaus Hofmann notes: "Bach has taken greater pleasure in depicting defiance than in representing timidity (and has thus departed to some extent from his librettist's intention).

[8] At the very end Bach adds two measures at a higher pitch on the words "ein Wesen, drei Personen" (one Being, three persons),[1] reflecting the Trinity and a "remoteness of God from his relationship to humankind".