A quiet image: the tomb is closed, the men are gone, only the two women remain sitting. Bach musically depicts this 'sitting' and 'staying'.
The Burial
Und Joseph nahm den Leib
Recitative
•Evangelist
|
No. 66apart_77
And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock:
and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.
And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary,
sitting over against the sepulchre.
German
English
Und Joseph nahm den Leib und wickelte ihn in ein rein Leinwand
und legte ihn in sein eigen neu Grab, welches er hatte lassen in einen Fels hauen,
und wälzete einen großen Stein vor die Tür des Grabes und ging davon.
Es war aber allda Maria Magdalena und die andere Maria,
die setzten sich gegen das Grab.
And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock:
and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.
And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary,
sitting over against the sepulchre.
Modern adaptation
Joseph wraps Jesus in linen, lays him in his own rock tomb, rolls a stone in front, and leaves. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary remain sitting opposite the tomb.