BLESS, BLESSED, BLESSING

beatitudes, benediction, gift, happiness, invoke divine favor, make holy, praise, thanks
giving, worship
BLESSED in scriptures [BibleGateway Search]
select Cross Reference Bible links
* Genesis 1:22 and 1:28 - The LORD blessed the first animals, birds, and people: "Be
fruitful, multiply"
* Genesis 9:26 - Noah blessed the LORD (after cursing Canaan)
* Genesis 12:2-3 - the LORD told Abram to leave home and go to another land. For
Abram's obedience, He promised to bless him to be a blessing. The LORD blesses those
who bless Abram and curses those who curse him. All people on earth will be blessed
through Abram.
* Deuteronomy 15:4-18 - How the LORD blesses obedient Israel
* Job 1:10, 29:2-6, 42:12 and Psalm 1:1-2, 29:11, 32:1-2 - examples of how the LORD
blesses people
* Psalm 10 - Some people misplace what they bless
* 33:12 - Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD
* Some Psalms of blessing and praising the LORD, Chronological Bible
* More on Psalms

* Proverbs 8:32-34 - blessed are those who keep the LORD's ways
* 19:23-25 - Egyptians, Assyrians, and Israel will worship the LORD together, and He will
bless them
* Isaiah 30:18, 51:2, Jeremiah 17:7, Daniel 12:12, Matthew 5:10-12 - blessing is not always
quick or automatic. "Blessed are all who wait for him!"
* Hosea 3:5 (14:1-3) - in the last days, Israel will stop relying on physical strength or idols,
and return to seek the LORD.
* Malachi 2:2 - When Israel wouldn't listen and their hearts didn't honor the LORD, He
cursed their blessings.
* Zechariah 8:13 and Malachi 3:10-12 - The LORD changes Israel from being cursed to
being blessed. (See the example of Balaam)
* Matthew 5:3-12 - Blessed are... (beatitudes)

BLESS [Easton Bible Dictionary]

# God blesses his people when he bestows on them some gift temporal or spiritual
(Genesis 1:22; 24:35; Job 42:12; Psalms 45:2; 104:24,35).

# We bless God when we thank him for his mercies (Psalms 103:1,2; 145:1,2).

# A man blesses himself when he invokes God's blessing (Isaiah 65:16), or

rejoices in God's goodness to him (Deuteronomy 29:19; Psalms 49:18).
# One blesses another when he expresses good wishes or offers prayer to God for
his welfare (Genesis 24:60; 31:55; 1 Samuel 2:20). Sometimes blessings were
uttered under divine inspiration, as in the case of Noah, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses
(Genesis 9:26,27; 27:28,29,40; 48:15-20; 49:1-28; Deuteronomy 33). The priests
were divinely authorized to bless the people (Deuteronomy 10:8; Numbers 6:22-
27). We have many examples of apostolic benediction (2 Corinthians
13:14; Ephesians 6:23,24; 2th Thessalonians 3:16,18; Hebrews 13:20,21; 1 Peter
5:10,11).

# 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. Psalms 116:13 refers to this
custom. It is also alluded to in 1 Corinthians 10:16, where the apostle speaks of
the "cup of blessing."

BLESS [ISBE]
(barakh):

This word is found more frequently in the Old Testament than in the New
Testament, and is used in different relations.

(1)

It is first met in Genesis 1:22 at the introduction of animal life upon the earth,
where it is written,
"And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply," etc.
The context furnishes the key to its meaning, which is the bestowal of good, and
in this particular place the pleasure and power of increase in kind. Thus it is
generally employed in both Testaments, the context always determining the
character of the bestowal; for instance (where man is the recipient), whether the
good is temporal or spiritual, or both.

Occasionally, however, a different turn is given to it as in Genesis 2:3 the King

James Version, where it is written,

"And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it."

Here the good consists in the setting apart and consecrating of that day for His
use.
(2)
In the foregoing instances the Creator is regarded as the source of blessing and
the creature the recipient, but the order is sometimes reversed, and the creature
(man) is the source and the Creator the recipient. In Genesis 24:48, for example,
Abraham's servant says,
"I bowed my head, and worshipped Yahweh, and blessed Yahweh, the God of
my master Abraham,"
where the word evidently means to worship God, to exalt and praise Him.
(3)
There is a third use where men only are considered. In Genesis 24:60, her
relatives
"blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, our sister, be thou the mother of thousands
of ten thousands" (the King James Version "millions"),
where the word expresses the wish or hope for the bestowal of the good
designated. There are also instances where such a blessing of man by man may
be taken in the prophetic sense, as when Isaac blessed Jacob (Genesis 27:4,27),
putting himself as it were in God's place, and with a sense of the Divine
concurrence, pronouncing the good named. Here the word becomes in part a
prayer for, and in part a prediction of, the good intended. Balaam's utterances
are simply prophetic of Israel's destiny (Numbers 23:9-10,11,23 , Numbers 24:1-
10).

Although these illustrations are from the Old Testament the word is used
scarcely differently in the New Testament;

"The blessing of bread, of which we read in the Gospels, is equivalent to giving

thanks for it, the thought being that good received gratefully comes as a
blessing"; compare Matthew 14:19 and Matthew 15:36 with 1 Corinthians
11:24 (Adeney, HDB, I, 307).

James M. Gray

BLESSED [ISBE]
bles'-ed (barukh):

Where God is referred to, this word has the sense of "praise," as in 1 Samuel
25:32,

"Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel."

But where man is in mind it is used in the sense of "happy" or "favored," and
most frequently so in the Psalms and the Gospels, as for example,
"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked" (Psalms 1:1);
"Blessed art thou among women" (Luke 1:42);
"Blessed are the poor in spirit" (Matthew 5:3).
BLESSEDNESS [ISBE]
bles'-ed-nes:

This translation of makarismos (a word signifying "beatification" or "the

ascription of blessing"), is used but three times, in Romans 4:6,9, and Galatians
4:15, in the King James Version only. In the first two instances it refers to the
happy state or condition of a man to whom Christ's righteousness is imputed by
faith, and in the last to a man's experience of that condition.

BLESSING [ISBE]
(berakhah; eulogia):

[Blessing] Sometimes means the form of words used in invoking the bestowal of
good, as in Deuteronomy 33:1; Joshua 8:34; and James 3:10.

Sometimes it means the good or the benefit itself which has been conferred, as in

Genesis 27:36, "Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?"

and Proverbs 10:22, "The blessing of Yahweh, it maketh rich."

"The cup of blessing" (to poterion tes eulogias, a special use of the word in 1
Corinthians 10:16), means the cup for which we bless God, or which represents
to us so much blessing from God.

James M. Gray

BLESSING, CUP OF [ISBE]

(to poterion tes eulogias, "the consecrated cup," 1 Corinthians 10:16):

A technical term from the Jewish liturgy transferred to the Lord's Supper, and
signifying the cup of wine upon which a blessing was pronounced. The suggestion
that it carries with it a higher significance, as a cup that brings blessing, is not
without force. The succeeding words, "we bless," are equivalent to "for which we
give thanks." It was consecrated by thanksgiving and prayer.

BLESSING, VALLEY OF [ISBE]

aka BERACAH, VALLEY OF
be-ra'-ka, ber'-a-ka (the King James Version Berachah; `emeq berkhah; koilas
eulogias):

After the victory of Jehoshaphat and his people over Moab and Ammon, "On the
fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Beracah; for there they
blessed Yahweh: therefore the name of that place was called The valley of
Beracah (i.e. of blessing) unto this day" (2 Chronicles 20:26). In the Wady
`Arrub there is a ruin called Breikut and the valley in its proximity receives the
same name. This is on the main road from Hebron to Jerusalem and not far from
Tekoa; it suits the narrative well (see PEF ,III , 352). E. W. G. Masterman

BLESSED, BLESSINGS [Thompson Chain Reference]

Beattitudes, General (Blessings)

* Psalms 1:1
* Psalms 32:1
* Psalms 40:4
* Psalms 41:1
* Psalms 65:4
* Psalms 89:15
* Psalms 112:1
* Isaiah 32:20
* Matthew 11:6
* Luke 6:22
* Luke 11:28
* Luke 12:37
* John 20:29
* James 1:12
* Revelation 14:13
* Revelation 19:9
* Revelation 22:7

Blessings, God's

* The Blessing of God rests upon his People

o Deuteronomy 23:5
o 2 Samuel 7:29
o Psalms 3:8
o Psalms 24:5
o Psalms 129:8
o Psalms 133:3
o Proverbs 10:22
Blessings | Blessings - Afflictions

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