The work lasts approximately 70 minutes and is a setting of the Latin text from the Gospel of John, chapters 18 and 19, plus a brief introduction and conclusion.

Since a period at the end of a sentence generates a note longer than does a comma in the middle of it, the hierarchy of the textual phrases is reflected in the music.

For the turba, the pitch center is again E. The alto and bass voices, again always playing an M role, are mirrored, and the soprano and tenor T-voices alternate above and below the M-voices.

While both are centered on E, the M-voices use E Phrygian against E major in the T-voices; this makes for striking cross-relations between G-natural and G-sharp, though the two never sound at the same time.

American composer Eric Whitacre used the two initial chords of the conclusion (Qui passus es) in his motet Lux Aurumque, applying them to the words natum (new-born) and thus linking birth and death of Christ to reincarnation.