 The beginning of the text is based on "", Luther's German Te Deum,

Bach wrote the cantata in 1726, his third year as "Thomaskantor" in Leipzig, for New Year's Day, which is also the feast of the circumcision and naming of Jesus.The prescribed readings for the feast day were taken from the Epistle to the Galatians, by faith we inherit (), and from the Gospel of Luke, the Circumcision and naming of Jesus ().The cantata text is taken from a 1711 publication by Georg Christian Lehms, it centers on praise and thanksgiving without being related to the readings.