 Bach composed the cantata in Leipzig in his first annual cycle as Thomaskantor for the fifth Sunday after Easter , called Rogate . The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the Epistle of James , " doers of the word , not only listeners " ( James 1 : 22 – 27 ) and from the Gospel of John , from the farewell discourses of Jesus , prayers will be fulfilled ( John 16 : 23 – 30 ) . The theme of the cantata is a quotation from the gospel at the beginning , the promise of Jesus " Verily , verily , I say unto you , whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name , he will give you " . An unknown poet used as movement 3 the 16th stanza of Georg Grünwald 's hymn " Kommt her zu mir , spricht Gottes Sohn " ( 1530 ) , and as the closing chorale the eleventh stanza of " Es ist das Heil uns kommen her " by Paul Speratus ( 1524 ) . The poet hints at the question how the promise can be understood looking at the reality of life . In movement 2 he uses the image of a rose with thorns to illustrate two conflicting aspects . In movements 3 and 4 he confirms the promise which has to be seen in the perspective of time . Movement 5 refers to the waiting for a promise being kept , and the closing chorale assures that God knows the right time . The structure of the six movements – a gospel quotation in the beginning , chorales as movements 3 and 6 , the sequence of recitative and arias – is similar to Wo gehest du hin ? BWV 166 , first performed one week earlier . 
