Kantate, BWV 46 "Schauet doch und sehet, ob irgendein Schmerz sei"

Schauet doch und sehet, ob irgend ein Schmerz sei (Behold and see, if there be any sorrow), BWV 46, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it for the tenth Sunday after Trinity and it was first performed on 1 August 1723 in Leipzig.

The cantata is part of Bach's first cantata cycle, which he began when he took up office as Thomaskantor in May 1723. The topic is based on the prescribed reading from the gospel of Luke, Jesus announcing the destruction of Jerusalem and cleansing of the Temple. The librettist is unknown. The cantata is structured in six movements: two choral movements frame a sequence of alternating recitatives and arias. The opening movement is based on a verse from the Book of Lamentations, a lament of the destructed Jerusalem, related to the announcement from the gospel. The text moves from reflecting God's wrath in the past to the situation of the contemporary Christian. The closing chorale, the ninth stanza from Johann Matthäus Meyfart's hymn "O großer Gott von Macht", is a prayer culminating in the thought "do not repay us according to our sins".