Reference: Bless
Easton
(1.) God blesses his people when he bestows on them some gift temporal or spiritual (Ge 1:22; 24:35; Job 42:12; Ps 45:2; 104:24,35).
(2.) We bless God when we thank him for his mercies (Ps 103:1-2; 145:1-2).
(3.) A man blesses himself when he invokes God's blessing (Isa 65:16), or rejoices in God's goodness to him (De 29:19; Ps 49:18).
(4.) One blesses another when he expresses good wishes or offers prayer to God for his welfare (Ge 24:60; 31:55; 1Sa 2:20). Sometimes blessings were uttered under divine inspiration, as in the case of Noah, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses (Ge 9:26-27; 27:28-29,40; 48:15-20; 49:1-28; De 33). The priests were divinely authorized to bless the people (De 10:8; Nu 6:22-27). We have many examples of apostolic benediction (2Co 13:14; Eph 6:23-24; 2Th 3:16,18; Heb 13:20-21; 1Pe 5:10-11).
(5.) Among the Jews in their thank-offerings the master of the feast took a cup of wine in his hand, and after having blessed God for it and for other mercies then enjoyed, handed it to his guests, who all partook of it. Ps 116:13 refers to this custom. It is also alluded to in 1Co 10:16, where the apostle speaks of the "cup of blessing."
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And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.
And he said, Blessed be LORD, the God of Shem. And let Canaan be his servant. God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem. And let Canaan be his servant.
And LORD has blessed my master greatly, and he has become great. And he has given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and men-servants and maid-servants, and camels and donkeys.
And they blessed Rebekah, and said to her, Our sister, be thou [the mother] of thousands of ten thousands, and let thy seed possess the gate of those who hate them.
And God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine. Let peoples serve thee, and nations bow down to thee. Be lord over thy brothers, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee. Cursed be he who curses thee, and blessed be he who blesses thee.
And by thy sword thou shall live, and thou shall serve thy brother. And it shall come to pass, when thou shall break loose, that thou shall shake his yoke from off thy neck.
And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them. And Laban departed and returned to his place.
And he blessed Joseph, and said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day, the [heavenly] agent who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. read more. And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. And he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn, put thy right hand upon his head. And his father refused, and said, I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee will Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
And Jacob called to his sons, and said, gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the latter days. Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob, and hearken to Israel your father. read more. Reuben, thou are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the pre-eminence of dignity, and the pre-eminence of power. Boiling over as water, thou shall not have the pre-eminence, because thou went up to thy father's bed, then thou defiled it; he went up to my couch. Simeon and Levi are brothers, weapons of violence are their swords. O my soul, come not thou into their council, to their assembly, my glory, be not thou united, for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they hocked an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. Judah, thy brothers shall praise thee. Thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies. Thy father's sons shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp. From the prey, my son, thou have gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as a lioness, who shall rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and to him shall the obedience of the peoples be. Binding his foal to the vine, and his donkey's colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine, and his vesture in the blood of grapes. His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea, and he shall be for a haven of ships. And his border shall be upon Sidon. Issachar is a strong donkey, couching down between the sheepfolds. And he saw a resting place that it was good, and the land that it was pleasant. And he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant under task work. Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent in the way, an adder in the path, that bites the horse's heels, so that his rider falls backward. I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD. Gad, a troop shall press upon him, but he shall press upon their heel. Out of the Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. Naphtali is a hind let loose. He gives goodly words. Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a fountain, his branches run over the wall. The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and persecute him, but his bow abode in strength. And the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (From there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel), even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee, and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that couches beneath, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb. The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my forefathers to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his broth Benjamin is a wolf that ravens. In the morning he shall devour the prey, and at evening he shall divide the spoil. All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is it that their father spoke to them and blessed them; every man according to his blessing he blessed them.
And LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, This way ye shall bless the sons of Israel: Ye shall say to them, read more. LORD bless thee, and keep thee. LORD make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious to thee. LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. So shall they put my name upon the sons of Israel, and I will bless them.
At that time LORD set apart the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of LORD, to stand before LORD to minister to him, and to bless in his name, to this day.
and it comes to pass, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart, to destroy the moist with the dry.
So LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. And he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-donkeys.
Thou are fairer than the sons of men. Grace is poured into thy lips. Therefore God has blessed thee forever.
Though while he lived he blessed his soul (and men praise thee, when thou do well for thyself),
Bless LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, [bless] his holy name. Bless LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,
O LORD, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom have thou made them all. The earth is full of thy riches.
Let sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless LORD, O my soul. Praise ye LORD.
I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of LORD.
I will extol thee, my God, O King, and I will bless thy name forever and ever. Every day I will bless thee, and I will praise thy name forever and ever.
so that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth, and he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth. Because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from my eyes.
The cup of the blessing that we bless, is it not a participation of the blood of the Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation of the body of the Christ?
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, is with all of you. Truly.
Peace to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The grace is with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptibility. Truly.
Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of an eternal covenant--our Lord Jesus-- may he make you fully qualified in every good work in order to do his will, doing in you what is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom is the glory into the ages of the ages. Truly.
Watsons
BLESS, BLESSING. There are three points of view in which the acts of blessing may be considered. The first is, when men are said to bless God, as in Ps 103:1-2. We are then not to suppose that the divine Being, who is over all, and, in himself, blessed for evermore, is capable of receiving any augmentation of his happiness, from all the creatures which he has made: such a supposition, as it would imply something of imperfection in the divine nature, must ever be rejected with abhorrence; and, therefore, when the creatures bless the adorable Creator, they only ascribe to him that praise, and dominion, and honour, and glory, and blessing, which it is equally the duty and joy of his creatures to reader. But when God is said to bless his people, Ge 1:22; Eph 1:3;
the meaning is, that he confers benefits upon them, either temporal or spiritual, and so communicates to them some portion of that blessedness which, in infinite fulness, dwells in himself, Jas 1:17; Ps 104:24,28; Lu 11:9-13. In the third place men are said to bless their fellow creatures. From the time that God entered into covenant with Abraham, and promised extraordinary blessings to his posterity, it appears to have been customary for the father of each family, in the direct line, or line of promise, previous to his death, to call his children around him, and to inform them, according to the knowledge which it pleased God then to give him, how, and in what manner, the divine blessing conferred upon Abraham was to descend among them. Upon these occasions, the patriarchs enjoyed a divine illumination; and under its influence, their benediction was deemed a prophetic oracle, foretelling events with the utmost certainty, and extending to the remotest period of time. Thus Jacob blessed his sons, Genesis xlix; and Moses, the children of Israel, Deuteronomy 33. When Melchizedeck blessed Abraham, the act of benediction included in it not merely the pronouncing solemn good wishes, but also a petitionary address to God that he would be pleased to ratify the benediction by his concurrence with what was prayed for. Thus Moses instructed Aaron, and his descendants, to bless the congregation, "In this wise shall ye bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless thee, and keep thee; the Lord make his face to shine upon thee; the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace," Nu 4:23. David says, "I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord," Ps 116:13. This phrase appears to be taken from the practice of the Jews in their thank-offerings, in which a feast was made of the remainder of their sacrifices, and the offerers, together with the priests, did eat and drink before the Lord; when, among other rites, the master of the feast took a cup of wine in his hand and solemnly blessed God for it, and for the mercies which were then acknowledged, and gave it to all the guests, every one of whom drank in his turn. To this custom it is supposed our blessed Lord alludes in the institution of the cup, which also is called, 1Co 10:16, "the cup of blessing." At the family feasts also, and especially that of the passover, both wine and bread were in this solemn and religious manner distributed, and God was blessed, and his mercies acknowledged. They blessed God for their present refreshment, for their deliverance out of Egypt, for the covenant of circumcision, and for the law given by Moses; and prayed that God would be merciful to his people Israel, that he would send the Prophet Elijah, and that he would render them worthy of the kingdom of the Messiah. See also 1Ch 16:2-3. In the Mosaic law, the manner of blessing is appointed by the lifting up of hands. Our Lord lifted up his hands, and blessed his disciples. It is probable that this action was constantly used on such occasions. The palm of the hand held up was precatory; and the palm turned outward or downward was benedictory. See BENEDICTION and See LORD'S SUPPER.
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And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.
from thirty years old and upward until fifty years old thou shall number them, all who enter in to wait upon the service, to do the work in the tent of meeting.
And when David had made an end of offering the burnt-offering and the peace-offerings, he blessed the people in the name of LORD. And he dealt to every one of Israel, both man and woman, to every one a loaf of bread, and a portion [of flesh], and a cake of raisins.
Bless LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, [bless] his holy name. Bless LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,
O LORD, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom have thou made them all. The earth is full of thy riches.
Thou give to them, they gather. Thou open thy hand, they are satisfied with good.
I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of LORD.
And I say to you, ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and ye will find. Knock, and it will be opened. For every man who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. read more. And which father of you, if the son will ask a loaf, will give him a stone, or also if a fish, in place of a fish will give him a serpent? Or if he should ask for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more the Father from heaven will give Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
The cup of the blessing that we bless, is it not a participation of the blood of the Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation of the body of the Christ?
Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly things in Christ.
Every good gift and every perfect endowment is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation nor shadow of turning.