Composed for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity, which fell on July 25, 1723, Bach's Cantata No. 105 "Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht mit deinem Knecht" (Lord, judge not your servant) (BWV 105) sets an anonymous text based on the verse from Psalm 143 that opens the cantata "Lord, judge not your servant, for no man is righteous in your sight." The verses for the central recitatives and arias elaborate the theme of sinful humanity with horrible images of pain and suffering to conclude with a chorale by Johann Rist from 1641 that hopes for salvation through faith. The cantata is scored for alto, soprano, bass and tenor soloists, chorus, a pair of oboes, coronet, strings, and basso continuo. "Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht mit deinem Knecht" is in tormented G minor with its first movement in the tonic, its second and fourth movements in the relative major of B flat major, and its third movement in the submediant of E flat major. The first movement is a massive common time Adagio prelude and a monumental cut-time Allegro fugue. The second movement is an anguished secco recitative for alto and continuo and the third is a da capo soprano aria with obbligato oboe, strings, and—almost uniquely in Bach's cantatas—no continuo. The fourth movement is an a tempo recitative for bass, strings, and continuo and the fifth is a da capo tenor aria with an ornate first violin countermelody, a coronet intoning the chorale tune, strings, and continuo. "Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht mit deinem Knecht" concludes with a harmonization of a Rist's chorale for the chorus and strings that begins in the relative minor, modulates to the tonic minor, but ends in the tonic major with a picardy third. Concurrent with the harmonic modulations, the upper strings' trembling figure metrically modulates from agitated sixteenth notes to triplets to eighth notes to quarter notes to end on a fermata whole note in the tonic major symbolizing the serenity of faith.

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