a screenshot from Michael Marissen, Lutheranism, anti-Judaism, and Bach’s St. John Passion : with an annotated literal translation of the libretto, p. 29
Achsaph belongs in the series of evil cities: Sodom, Babylon, Nineve…
Brockes in his passion uses this metaphorical city (once captured by the Israelites) to evoke the image of a dreadful pits where one perishes (‘murderous dens’) contrasting with the live-gving hill of Golgatha. Bach removes the baroque flavour of the image: ‘Achsaphs Möderhöhlen’ >> ‘euren Marterhöhlen’.