text: Part One The first scenes are in Jerusalem: Jesus announces his death (No. 2), on the other hand the intention to get rid of him is expressed (No. 4). A scene in Bethany (No. 4c) shows a woman anointing his head with valuable oils. The next scene (No. 7) has Judas Iscariot negotiating the price for handing Jesus over. In a great contrast of mood the preparation for the "Easter meal" (Osterlamm) is described (No. 9) and the Passover meal itself, the Last Supper, foreshadowed by the announcement of betrayal. After the meal they go together to the Mount of Olives (No. 14) where Jesus predicts that Peter will deny him three times before the cock crows. At the garden of Gethsemane (No. 18) Jesus asks his followers several times to support him but they fall asleep while he is praying in agony. It is there (No. 26) that he is betrayed by Judas' kiss and arrested. While soprano and alto mourn (in duet, No. 27a) Jesus's arrest, the chorus makes angry interjections of "" (Leave him, stop, do not bind him!). In a dramatic highpoint of the Passion, the chorus (No. 27b) furiously demands against the Jews who arrested Jesus "" (Wreck, ruin, engulf, shatter with sudden force the false betrayer, the murderous blood!).
  1.
  Part One is opened by the chorus "" (Come ye daughters, join my lament), on a text by Picander. After 16 measures of instrumental introduction in  time, driven by an ostinato   rhythm in the basses, Chorus I intones , until in measure 26 they sing  (Hark!) and Chorus II promptly asks  (Whom?), Chorus I replying with  (the bridegroom – implying Christ). The next call by Chorus I is  (See him!), followed by the question  (How?) by Chorus II, to which Chorus I answers  (just like a lamb – another reference to Christ).
  The dialogue with these questions is repeated, and then, from measure 30, Chorus I sings the text of the incipit again while in ripieno sopranos sing the first two lines of Nikolaus Decius' chorale "" (O Lamb of God, innocent) as the cantus firmus. All sentences of the first stanza of Decius' hymn are used as cantus firmus throughout the movement by the ripienists.