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Evening came, and morning followed - the fourth
day. Then God said, "Let the water teem with an abundance of
living creatures, and on the earth let birds fly beneath the dome
of the sky." And so it happened: God created the great sea
monsters and all kinds of swimming creatures with which the water
teems, and all kinds of winged birds. God saw how good it was, and
God blessed them, saying, "Be fertile, multiply, and fill the
water of the seas; and let the birds multiply on the earth." [GEN
1:19-22]
Then God said: "Let us make man in our
image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of
the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the
wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground."
God created man in his image; in the divine image he created
him; male and female he created them. God blessed them,
saying: "Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue
it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air,
and all the living things that move on the earth." [GEN 1:26-28]
Thus the heavens and the earth and all their
array were completed. Since on the seventh day God was finished
with the work he had been doing, he rested on the seventh day from
all the work he had undertaken. So God blessed the seventh day and
made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had
done in creation. [GEN 2:1-3]
When God created man, he made him in the
likeness of God; he created them male and female. When they were
created, he blessed them and named them "man." [Taken from GEN
5:1-2]
God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them:
"Be fertile and multiply and fill the earth." [Taken from GEN 9:1]
When Noah woke up from his drunkenness and
learned what his youngest son had done to him, he
said: "Cursed be Caanan! The lowest of
slaves shall he be to his brothers." He also
said: "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! Let
Canaan be his slave. May God expand Japheth, so that he
dwells among the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his slave." [GEN
9:24-27]
The LORD said to Abram: "Go forth from the
land of your kinsfolk and from your father's house to a land that
I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and
I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that
you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and
curse those who curse you. All the communities of the
earth shall find blessing in you." [GEN 12:1-3]
Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread
and wine, and being a priest of God Most High, he blessed Abram
with these words: "Blessed be Abram by God Most
High, the creator of heaven and earth; And blessed be God
Most High, who delivered your foes into your
hand." Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything. [GEN
14:18-20]
God further said to Abraham: "As for your
wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai; her name shall be Sarah. I will
bless her, and I will give you a son by her. Him also will I
bless; he shall give rise to nations, and rulers of peoples shall
issue from him." Abraham prostrated himself and laughed as he
said to himself, "Can a child be born to a man who is a
hundred years old? Or can Sarah give birth at ninety?" Then
Abraham said to God, "Let but Ishmael live on by your
favor!" God replied: "Nevertheless, your wife Sarah is
to bear you a son, and you shall call him Isaac. I will maintain
my covenant with him as an everlasting pact, to be his God and the
God of his descendants after him. As for Ishmael, I am heeding
you: I hereby bless him. I will make him fertile and will multiply
him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve chieftains,
and I will make of him a great nation. But my covenant I will
maintain with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you by this time
next year." [GEN 17:15-21]
The men set out from there and looked down
toward Sodom; Abraham was walking with them, to see them on their
way. The LORD reflected: "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am
about to do, now that he is to become a great and populous nation,
and all the nations of the earth are to find blessing in him?
Indeed, I have singled him out that he may direct his sons and his
posterity to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and
just, so that the LORD may carry into effect for Abraham the
promises he made about him." [GEN 18:16-19]
Again the LORD'S messenger called to Abraham
from heaven and said: "I swear by myself, declares the LORD,
that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your
beloved son, I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants
as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the
seashore; your descendants shall take possession of the gates of
their enemies, and in your descendants all the nations of the
earth shall find blessing - all this because you obeyed my
command." [GEN 22:15-18]
Abraham had now reached a ripe old age, and the
LORD had blessed him in every way. [GEN 24:1]
The man then bowed down in worship to the
LORD, saying: "Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master
Abraham, who has not let his constant kindness toward my master
fail. As for myself also, the LORD has led me straight to the
house of my master's brother." [Taken from GEN 24:26-27]
Invoking a blessing on Rebekah, they said: "Sister, may you grow
into thousands of myriads; And may your descendants gain possession of the gates of their enemies!"
[GEN 24:60]
After the death of Abraham, God blessed his son
Isaac, who made his home near Beer-lahai-roi. [GEN 25:11]
There was a famine in the land (distinct from
the earlier one that had occurred in the days of Abraham), and
Isaac went down to Abimelech, king of the Philistines in Gerar.
The LORD appeared to him and said: "Do not go down to Egypt,
but continue to camp wherever in this land I tell you. Stay in
this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and
your descendants I will give all these lands, in fulfillment of
the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your
descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and give them all
these lands, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth
shall find blessing - this because Abraham obeyed me, keeping my
mandate (my commandments, my ordinances, and my
instructions)." So Isaac settled in Gerar. [GEN 26:1-6]
Isaac sowed a crop in that region and reaped a
hundredfold the same year. Since the LORD blessed him, he became
richer and richer all the time, until he was very wealthy indeed. [GEN
26:12-13]
The same night the LORD appeared to him and
said: "I am the God of your father Abraham. You have no need
to fear, since I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your
descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham." [GEN 26:24]
Abimelech had meanwhile come to him from Gerar,
accompanied by Ahuzzath, his councilor, and Phicol, the general of
his army. Isaac asked them, "Why have you come to me, seeing
that you hate me and have driven me away from you?" They
answered: "We are convinced that the LORD is with you, so we
propose that there be a sworn agreement between our two sides -
between you and us. Let us make a pact with you: you shall
not act unkindly toward us, just as we have not molested you, but
have always acted kindly toward you and have let you depart in
peace. Henceforth, 'The LORD'S blessing be upon you!'" [GEN
26:29-29]
Isaac then said to Jacob, "Come closer,
son, that I may feel you, to learn whether you really are my son
Esau or not." So Jacob moved up closer to his father. When
Isaac felt him, he said, "Although the voice is Jacob's, the
hands are Esau's." (He failed to identify him because his
hands were hairy, like those of his brother Esau; so in the end he
gave him his blessing.) [GEN 27:21-23]
Finally his father Isaac said to him, "Come
closer, son, and kiss me." As Jacob went up and kissed him,
Isaac smelled the fragrance of his clothes. With that, he
blessed him, saying, "Ah, the fragrance of my
son is like the fragrance of a field that the LORD has
blessed! May God give to you of the dew of the
heavens and of the fertility of the earth abundance of
grain and wine. Let peoples serve you, and nations pay
you homage; Be master of your brothers, and may your
mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse
you, and blessed be those who bless you." [GEN 27:26-29]
When Isaac explained, "Your brother came
here by a ruse and carried off your blessing," Esau
exclaimed, "He has been well named Jacob! He has now
supplanted me twice! First he took away my birthright, and now he
has taken away my blessing." Then he pleaded, "Haven't
you saved a blessing for me?" Isaac replied: "I have
already appointed him your master, and I have assigned to him all
his kinsmen as his slaves; besides, I have enriched him with grain
and wine. What then can I do for you, son?" But Esau urged
his father, "Have you only that one blessing, father? Bless
me too!" Isaac, however, made no reply; and Esau wept aloud.
Finally Isaac spoke again and said to him: "Ah, far from
the fertile earth shall be your dwelling; far from the
dew of the heavens above! By your sword you shall
live, and your brother you shall serve; But when you
become restive, you shall throw off his yoke from your
neck." Esau bore Jacob a grudge because of the blessing his
father had given him. He said to himself, "When the time of
mourning for my father comes, I will kill my brother Jacob." [GEN
27:35-41]
Isaac therefore called Jacob, greeted him with a
blessing, and charged him: "You shall not marry a Canaanite
woman! Go now to Paddan-aram, to the home of your mother's father
Bethuel, and there choose a wife for yourself from among the
daughters of your uncle Laban. May God Almighty bless you and make
you fertile, multiply you that you may become an assembly of
peoples. May he extend to you and your descendants the blessing he
gave to Abraham, so that you may gain possession of the land where
you are staying, which he assigned to Abraham." [GEN 28:1-4]
Then he had a dream: a stairway rested on the
ground, with its top reaching to the heavens; and God's messengers
were going up and down on it. And there was the LORD standing
beside him and saying: "I, the LORD, am the God of your
forefather Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you are
lying I will give to you and your descendants. These shall be as
plentiful as the dust of the earth, and through them you shall
spread out east and west, north and south. In you and your
descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing. Know
that I am with you; I will protect you wherever you go, and bring
you back to this land. I will never leave you until I have done
what I promised you." When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he
exclaimed, "Truly, the LORD is in this spot, although I did
not know it!" [GEN 28:12-16]
After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to
Laban: "Give me leave to go to my homeland. Let me have my
wives, for whom I served you, and my children, too, that I may
depart. You know very well the service that I have rendered
you." Laban answered him: "If you will please... I have learned through divination that it is because of you
that God has blessed me. So," he continued, "state what
wages you want from me, and I will pay them." Jacob replied:
"You know what work I did for you and how well your livestock
fared under my care; the little you had before I came has grown
into very much, since the LORD'S blessings came upon you in my
company. Therefore I should now do something for my own household
as well." [GEN 30:25-30]
After he had taken them across the stream and
had brought over all his possessions, Jacob was left there alone.
Then some man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. When the
man saw that he could not prevail over him, he struck Jacob's hip
at its socket, so that the hip socket was wrenched as they
wrestled. The man then said, "Let me go, for it is
daybreak." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go until
you bless me." "What is your name?" the man asked.
He answered, "Jacob." Then the man said, "You shall
no longer be spoken of as Jacob, but as Israel, because you have
contended with divine and human beings and have prevailed." [GEN
32:24-29]
On Jacob's arrival from Paddan-aram, God
appeared to him again and blessed him. God said to
him: "You whose name is Jacob shall no longer be
called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name." Thus he
was named Israel. [GEN 35:9-10]
When Joseph was taken down to Egypt, a certain
Egyptian (Potiphar, a courtier of Pharaoh and his chief steward)
bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there. But
since the LORD was with him, Joseph got on very well and was
assigned to the household of his Egyptian master. When his master
saw that the LORD was with him and brought him success in whatever
he did, he took a liking to Joseph and made him his personal
attendant; he put him in charge of his household and entrusted to
him all his possessions. From the moment that he put him in charge
of his household and all his possessions, the LORD blessed the
Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; in fact, the LORD'S blessing
was on everything he owned, both inside the house and out. [GEN
39:1-5]
When Jacob was told, "Your son Joseph has
come to you," he rallied his strength and sat up in bed.
Jacob then said to Joseph: "God Almighty appeared to me at
Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessing me, he said, 'I will make
you fertile and numerous and raise you into an assembly of tribes,
and I will give this land to your descendants after you as a
permanent possession.' Your two sons, therefore, who were born to
you in the land of Egypt before I joined you here, shall be mine;
Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine as much as Reuben and Simeon
are mine. Progeny born to you after them shall remain yours; but
their heritage shall be recorded in the names of their two
brothers. I do this because, when I was returning from Paddan,
your mother Rachel died, to my sorrow, during the journey in
Canaan, while we were still a short distance from Ephrath; and I
buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem)."
When Israel saw Joseph's sons, he asked, "Who are
these?" "They are my sons," Joseph answered his
father, "whom God has given me here." "Bring them
to me," said his father, "that I may bless them." [GEN
48:2-9]
Then Joseph took the two, Ephraim with his right
hand, to Israel's left, and Manasseh with his left hand, to
Israel's right, and led them to him. But Israel, crossing his
hands, put out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim,
although he was the younger, and his left hand on the head of
Manasseh, although he was the first-born. Then he blessed them
with these words: "May the God in whose ways my
fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my
shepherd from my birth to this day, the angel who has
delivered me from all harm, bless these boys that in
them my name be recalled, and the names of my fathers,
Abraham and Isaac, and they may become teeming
multitudes upon the earth!" When Joseph saw that his
father had laid his right hand on Ephraim's head, this seemed
wrong to him; so he took hold of his father's hand, to remove it
from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's, saying, "That is not
right, father; the other one is the first-born; lay your right
hand on his head!" But his father resisted. "I know it,
son," he said, "I know. That one too shall become a
tribe, and he too shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger
brother shall surpass him, and his descendants shall become a
multitude of nations." So when he blessed them that day and
said, "By you shall the people of Israel pronounce blessings;
may they say, 'God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh,'" he
placed Ephraim before Manasseh. [GEN 48:13-20]
Jethro rejoiced over all the goodness that the
LORD had shown Israel in rescuing them from the hands of the
Egyptians. "Blessed be the LORD," he said, "who has
rescued his people from the hands of Pharaoh and the Egyptians.
Now I know that the LORD is a deity great beyond any other; for he
took occasion of their being dealt with insolently to deliver the
people from the power of the Egyptians." [EX 18:9-11]
"Remember to keep holy the sabbath day. Six
days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is
the sabbath of the LORD, your God. No work may be done then either
by you, or your son or daughter, or your male or female slave, or
your beast, or by the alien who lives with you. In six days the
LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in
them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the LORD has
blessed the sabbath day and made it holy." [EX 20:8-11]
In whatever place I choose
for the remembrance of my name I will come to you and bless you. [Taken
from EX 20:24]
Therefore, you shall not bow down in worship
before their gods, nor shall you make anything like them; rather,
you must demolish them and smash their sacred pillars. The LORD,
your God, you shall worship; then I will bless your food and
drink, and I will remove all sickness from your midst; no woman in
your land will be barren or miscarry; and I will give you a full
span of life. [Taken from EX 23:24-26]
Then Moses said, "Today you have been
dedicated to the LORD, for you were against your own sons and
kinsmen, to bring a blessing upon yourselves this day." [EX
32:29]
So when Moses saw that all the work was done
just as the LORD had commanded, he blessed them. [EX 39:43]
Moses and Aaron went into the meeting tent. On
coming out they again blessed the people. Then the glory of the
LORD was revealed to all the people. [LEV 9:23]
"Observe my precepts and be careful to keep
my regulations, for then you will dwell securely in the land. The
land will yield its fruit and you will have food in abundance, so
that you may live there without worry. Therefore, do not say,
'What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we do not then sow or
reap our crop?' I will bestow such blessings on you in the sixth
year that there will then be crop enough for three years. When you
sow in the eighth year, you will continue to eat from the old
crop; and even into the ninth year, when the crop comes in, you
will still have the old to eat from." [Taken from LEV 25:18-22]
The LORD said to Moses: "Speak to Aaron and
his sons and tell them: This is how you shall bless the
Israelites. Say to them: The LORD bless you and keep you! The LORD
let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The LORD look
upon you kindly and give you peace! So shall they invoke my name
upon the Israelites, and I will bless them." [NUM 6:22-27]
So Moab said to the elders of Midian, "Soon
this horde will devour all the country around us as an ox devours
the grass of the field." And Balak, Zippor's son, who was
king of Moab at that time, sent messengers to Balaam, son of Beor,
at Pethor on the Euphrates, in the land of the Amawites, summoning
him with these words, "A people has come here from Egypt who
now cover the face of the earth and are settling down opposite us!
Please come and curse this people for us; they are stronger than
we are. We may then be able to defeat them and drive them out of
the country. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed and
whoever you curse is cursed." Then the elders of Moab and of
Midian left with the divination fee in hand and went to Balaam.
When they had given him Balak's message, he said to them in reply,
"Stay here overnight, and I will give you whatever answer the
LORD gives me." So the princes of Moab lodged with Balaam.
Then God came to Balaam and said, "Who are these men visiting
you?" Balaam answered God, "Balak, son of Zippor, king
of Moab, sent me the message: 'This people that came here from
Egypt now cover the face of the earth. Please come and lay a curse
on them for us; we may then be able to give them battle and drive
them out.'" But God said to Balaam, "Do not go with them
and do not curse this people, for they are blessed." [NUM 22:4-12]
"What have you done to me?" cried
Balak to Balaam. "It was to curse my foes that I brought you
here; instead, you have even blessed them." Balaam replied,
"Is it not what the LORD puts in my mouth that I must repeat
with care?"
[NUM 23:11-12]
Balaam gave voice to his oracle: Be
aroused, O Balak, and hearken; give ear to my testimony, O son of
Zippor! God is not man that he should speak falsely, nor
human, that he should change his mind. Is he one to speak and
not act, to decree and not fulfill? It is a blessing I have
been given to pronounce; a blessing which I cannot restrain.
Misfortune is not observed in Jacob, nor misery seen in
Israel. The LORD, his God, is with him; with him is the
triumph of his King. [Taken from NUM 23:18-21]
"Even though you cannot curse
them," said Balak to Balaam, "at least do not bless
them." But Balaam answered Balak, "Did I not warn you
that I must do all that the LORD tells me?" [NUM 23:25-26]
Balaam, however, perceiving that the LORD was pleased to bless Israel, did not go aside as before to seek omens, but turned his gaze toward the desert. [NUM 24:1]
Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed is he who
curses you! Balak beat his palms together in a blaze of anger at
Balaam and said to him, "It was to curse my foes that I
summoned you here; yet three times now you have even blessed them
instead! Be off at once, then, to your home. I promised to reward
you richly, but the LORD has withheld the reward from you!"
Balaam replied to Balak, "Did I not warn the very messengers
whom you sent to me, 'Even if Balak gave me his house full of
silver and gold, I could not of my own accord to anything, good or
evil, contrary to the command of the LORD'? Whatever the LORD says
I must repeat." [Taken from NUM 24:9-13]
"At that time I said to you, 'Alone, I am
unable to carry you. The LORD, your God, has so multiplied you
that you are now as numerous as the stars in the sky. May the
LORD, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times over,
and bless you as he promised! But how can I alone bear the
crushing burden that you are, along with your bickering? Choose
wise, intelligent and experienced men from each of your tribes,
that I may appoint them as your leaders.'" [Taken from DEUT 1:9-13]
Finally the LORD said to me, 'You have wandered
round these highlands long enough; turn and go north. Give this
order to the people: You are now about to pass through the
territory of your kinsmen, the descendants of Esau, who live in
Seir. Though they are afraid of you, be very careful not to come
in conflict with them, for I will not give you so much as a foot
of their land, since I have already given Esau possession of the
highlands of Seir. You shall purchase from them with silver the
food you eat and the well water you drink. The LORD, your God, has
blessed you in all your undertakings; he has been concerned about
your journey through this vast desert. It is now forty years that
he has been with you, and you have never been in want.' [DEUT 2:2-7]
"As your reward for heeding these decrees
and observing them carefully, the LORD, your God, will keep with
you the merciful covenant which he promised on oath to your
fathers. He will love and bless and multiply you; he will bless
the fruit of your womb and the produce of your soil, your grain
and wine and oil, the issue of your herds and the young of your
flocks, in the land which he swore to your fathers he would give
you. You will be blessed above all peoples; no man or woman among
you shall be childless nor shall your livestock be barren. The
LORD will remove all sickness from you; he will not afflict you
with any of the malignant diseases that you know from Egypt, but
will leave them with all your enemies." [Taken from DEUT 7:12-15]
"Therefore, keep the commandments of the
LORD, your God, by walking in his ways and fearing him. For the
LORD, your God, is bringing you into a good country, a land with
streams of water, with springs and fountains welling up in the
hills and valleys, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig
trees and pomegranates, of olive trees and of honey, a land where
you can eat bread without stint and where you will lack nothing, a
land whose stones contain iron and in whose hills you can mine
copper. But when you have eaten your fill, you must bless the
LORD, your God, for the good country he has given you. Be careful
not to forget the LORD, your God, by neglecting his commandments
and decrees and statutes which I enjoin on you today" [Taken from DEUT
8:6-11]
"At that time the LORD set apart the tribe
of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to be in
attendance before the LORD and minister to him, and to give
blessings in his name, as they have done to this day. For this
reason, Levi has no share in the heritage with his brothers; the
LORD himself is his heritage, as the LORD, your God, has told him."
[DEUT 10:8-9]
"I set before you here, this day, a
blessing and a curse: a blessing for obeying the commandments of
the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today; a curse if you do
not obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, but turn aside
from the way I ordain for you today, to follow other gods, whom
you have not known. "[DEUT 11:26-28]
When the LORD, your God, brings you into the
land which you are to enter and occupy, then you shall pronounce
the blessing on Mount Gerizim, the curse on Mount Ebal. [DEUT
11:29]
There, too, before the LORD, your God, you and
your families shall eat and make merry over all your undertakings,
because the LORD, your God, has blessed you. [DEUT 12:7]
"At the end of every third year you shall
bring out all the tithes of your produce for that year and deposit
them in community stores, that the Levite who has no share in the
heritage with you, and also the alien, the orphan and the widow
who belong to your community, may come and eat their fill; so that
the LORD, your God, may bless you in all that you undertake." [DEUT
14:28-29]
"At the end of every seven-year period you
shall have a relaxation of debts, which shall be observed as
follows. Every creditor shall relax his claim on what he has
loaned his neighbor; he must not press his neighbor, his kinsman,
because a relaxation in honor of the LORD has been proclaimed. You
may press a foreigner, but you shall relax the claim on your
kinsman for what is yours. Nay, more! since the LORD, your God,
will bless you abundantly in the land he will give you to occupy
as your heritage, there should be no one of you in need. If you
but heed the voice of the LORD, your God, and carefully observe
all these commandments which I enjoin on you today, you will lend
to many nations, and borrow from none; you will rule over many
nations, and none will rule over you, since the LORD, your God,
will bless you as he promised." [DEUT 15:1-6]
When you give to him, give freely and not with
ill will; for the LORD, your God, will bless you for this in all
your works and undertakings. [DEUT 15:10]
"If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman,
sells himself to you, he is to serve you for six years, but in the
seventh year you shall dismiss him from your service, a free man.
When you do so, you shall not send him away empty-handed, but
shall weight him down with gifts from your flock and threshing
floor and wine press, in proportion to the blessing the LORD, your
God, has bestowed on you. For remember that you too were once
slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD, your God, ransomed you.
That is why I am giving you this command today." [DEUT 15:12-15]
You shall then keep the feast of Weeks in honor
of the LORD, your God, and the measure of your own freewill
offering shall be in proportion to the blessing the LORD, your
God, has bestowed on you. [DEUT 16:10]
"Three times a year, then, every male among
you shall appear before the LORD, your God, in the place which he
chooses: at the feast of Unleavened Bread, at the feast of Weeks,
and at the feast of Booths. No one shall appear before the LORD
empty-handed, but each of you with as much as he can give, in
proportion to the blessings which the LORD, your God, has bestowed
on you." [DEUT 16:16-17]
The priests, the descendants of Levi, shall also
be present, for the LORD, your God, has chosen them to minister to
him and to give blessings in his name, and every case of dispute
or violence must be settled by their decision. [DEUT 21:5]
No Ammonite or Moabite may ever be admitted into
the community of the LORD, nor any descendants of theirs even to
the tenth generation, because they would not succor you with food
and water on your journey after you left Egypt, and because Moab
hired Balaam, son of Beor, from Pethor in Aram Naharaim, to curse
you; though the LORD, your God, would not listen to Balaam and
turned his curse into a blessing for you, because he loves you. [DEUT
23:4-6]
You may demand interest from a foreigner, but
not from your countryman, so that the LORD, your God, may bless
you in all your undertakings on the land you are to enter and
occupy. [DEUT 23:21]
"When you make a loan of any kind to your
neighbor, you shall not enter his house to receive a pledge from
him, but shall wait outside until the man to whom you are making
the loan brings his pledge outside to you. If he is a poor man,
you shall not sleep in the mantle he gives as a pledge, but shall
return it to him at sunset that he himself may sleep in it. Then
he will bless you, and it will be a good deed of yours before the
LORD, your God." [DEUT 24:10-13]
"When you reap the harvest in your field
and overlook a sheaf there, you shall not go back to get it; let
it be for the alien, the orphan or the widow, that the LORD, your
God, may bless you in all your undertakings." [DEUT 24:19]
'Look down, then, from heaven, your holy abode,
and bless your people Israel and the soil you have given us in the
land flowing with milk and honey which you promised on oath to our
fathers.' [Taken from DEUT 26:15]
That same day Moses gave the people this order:
"When you cross the Jordan, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar,
Joseph and Benjamin shall stand on Mount Gerizim to pronounce
blessings over the people, while Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan
and Naphtali shall stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce curses." [DEUT
27:11-13]
"Thus, then, shall it be: if you continue
to heed the voice of the LORD, your God, and are careful to
observe all his commandments which I enjoin on you today, the
LORD, your God, will raise you high above all the nations of the
earth. When you hearken to the voice of the LORD, your God, all
these blessings will come upon you and overwhelm you: May
you be blessed in the city, and blessed in the country! Blessed be the fruit of your womb, the produce
of your
soil and the offspring of your livestock, the issue of your
herds and the young of your flocks! Blessed be your grain
bin and your kneading bowl! May you be blessed in your
coming in, and blessed in your going out! The LORD will
beat down before you the enemies that rise up against you; though
they come out against you from but one direction, they will flee
before you in seven. The LORD will affirm his blessing upon you,
on your barns and on all your undertakings, blessing you in the
land that the LORD, your God, gives you. Provided that you keep
the commandments of the LORD, your God, and walk in his ways, he
will establish you as a people sacred to himself, as he swore to
you; so that, when all the nations of the earth see you bearing
the name of the LORD, they will stand in awe of you. The LORD will
increase in more than goodly measure the fruit of your womb, the
offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil, in the
land which he swore to your fathers he would give you. The LORD
will open up for you his rich treasure house of the heavens, to
give your land rain in due season, blessing all your undertakings,
so that you will lend to many nations and borrow from none. The
LORD will make you the head, not the tail, and you will always
mount higher and not decline, as long as you obey the commandments
of the LORD, your God, which I order you today to observe
carefully; not turning aside to the right or to the left from any
of the commandments which I now give you, in order to follow other
gods and serve them. But if you do not hearken to the voice
of the LORD, your God, and are not careful to observe all his
commandments which I enjoin on you today, all these curses shall
come upon you and overwhelm you" [Taken from DEUT 28:1-15]
"When all these things which I have set
before you, the blessings and the curses, are fulfilled in you,
and from among whatever nations the LORD, your God, may have
dispersed you, you ponder them in your heart: then, provided that
you and your children return to the LORD, your God, and heed his
voice with all your heart and all your soul, just as I now command
you, the LORD, your God, will change your lot; and taking pity on
you, he will again gather you from all the nations wherein he has
scattered you. Though you may have been driven to the farthest
corner of the world, even from there will the LORD, your God,
gather you; even from there will he bring you back."
[DEUT 30:1-4]
"Here, then, I have today set before you
life and prosperity, death and doom. If you obey the commandments
of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him,
and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes
and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your
God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy. If,
however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen, but are
led astray and adore and serve other gods, I tell you now that you
will certainly perish; you will not have a long life on the land
which you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy. I call
heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before
you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then,
that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your
God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him. For that will
mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land which
the LORD swore he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob." [DEUT 30:15-20]
This is the blessing which Moses, the man of
God, pronounced upon the Israelites before he died. He
said: "The LORD came from Sinai and dawned on his
people from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran and
advanced from Meribath-kadesh, While at his right hand a fire
blazed forth and his wrath devastated the nations. But all
his holy ones were in his hand; they followed at his
feet and he bore them up on his pinions. A law he gave to
us; he made the community of Jacob his domain, and he became
king of his darling. When the chiefs of the people
assembled and the tribes of Israel came together. May
Reuben live and not die out, but let his men be few." [Taken
from DEUT 33:1-6]
"Bless, O LORD, his possessions and accept the ministry of his hands. Break the backs of his adversaries and of his foes, that they may not rise."
[Taken from DEUT 33:11]
Of Naphtali he said: "Naphtali is enriched with favors and filled with the
blessings of the LORD; The lake and south of it are his possession!"
[Taken from DEUT 33:23]
Of Asher he said: "More blessed than the other sons be
Asher! May he be the favorite among his brothers, as the
oil of his olive trees runs over his feet! May your bolts be of
iron and bronze; may your strength endure through all your
days!" [Taken from DEUT 33:24-25]
And all Israel, stranger and native alike, with
their elders, officers and judges, stood on either side of the ark
facing the levitical priests who were carrying the ark of the
covenant of the LORD. Half of them were facing Mount Gerizim and
half Mount Ebal, thus carrying out the instructions of Moses, the
servant of the LORD, for the blessing of the people of Israel on
this first occasion. Then were read aloud all the words of the
law, the blessings and the curses, exactly as written in the book
of the law. Every single word that Moses had commanded, Joshua
read aloud to the entire community, including the women and
children, and the strangers who had accompanied Israel. [JOSH 8:33-35]
Joshua blessed Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and gave
him Hebron as his heritage. [JOSH 14:13]
The descendants of Joseph said to Joshua,
"Why have you given us only one lot and one share as our
heritage? Our people are too many, because of the extent to which
the LORD has blessed us." Joshua answered them, "If you
are too many, go up to the forest and clear out a place for
yourselves there in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaim, since
the mountain regions of Ephraim are so narrow." [JOSH 17:14-15]
Joshua then blessed them and sent them away to
their own tents. [JOSH 22:6]
Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, and the
princes returned from the Reubenites and the Gadites in the land
of Gilead to the Israelites in the land of Canaan, and reported
the matter to them. The report satisfied the Israelites, who
blessed God and decided against declaring war on the Reubenites
and Gadites or ravaging the land they occupied. [JOSH 22:32-33]
Then
Balak, son of Zippor, king of Moab, prepared to war against
Israel. He summoned Balaam, son of Beor, to curse you; but I would
not listen to Balaam. On the contrary, he had to bless you, and I
saved you from him. [JOSH 24:9-10]
My heart is with the leaders of
Israel, nobles of the people who bless the LORD; They who
ride on white asses, seated on saddlecloths as they go their
way; Sing of them to the strains of the harpers at the
wells, where men recount the just deeds of the LORD, his
just deeds that brought freedom to Israel. [JUDG 5:9-11]
Blessed among women be Jael, blessed among
tent-dwelling women. [JUDG 5:24]
The woman bore a son and named him Samson. The
boy grew up and the LORD blessed him; the spirit of the LORD first
stirred him in Mahaneh-dan, which is between Zorah and Eshtaol. [JUDG
13:24-25]
Boaz himself came from Bethlehem and said to the
harvesters, "The LORD be with you!" and they replied,
"The LORD bless you!" [RUTH 2:4]
She rose to glean, and Boaz instructed his
servants to let her glean among the sheaves themselves without
scolding her, and even to let drop some handfuls and leave them
for her to glean without being rebuked. She gleaned in the field
until evening, and when she beat out what she had gleaned it came
to about an ephah of barley, which she took into the city and
showed to her mother-in-law. Next she brought out and gave her
what she had left over from lunch. So her mother-in-law said to
her, "Where did you glean today? Where did you go to work?
May he who took notice of you be blessed!" Then she told her
mother-in-law with whom she had worked. "The man at whose
place I worked today is named Boaz," she said. "May he
be blessed by the LORD, who is ever merciful to the living and to
the dead," Naomi exclaimed to her daughter-in-law; and she
continued, "He is a relative of ours, one of our next of
kin." [RUTH 2:15-20]
Boaz ate and drank to his heart's content. Then
when he went and lay down at the edge of the sheaves, she stole
up, uncovered a place at his feet, and lay down. In the middle of
the night, however, the man gave a start and turned around to find
a woman lying at his feet. He asked, "Who are you?" And
she replied, "I am your servant Ruth. Spread the corner of
your cloak over me, for you are my next of kin." He said,
"May the LORD bless you, my daughter! You have been even more
loyal now than before in not going after the young men, whether
poor or rich. So be assured, daughter, I will do for you whatever
you say; all my townspeople know you for a worthy woman. Now,
though indeed I am closely related to you, you have another
relative still closer. Stay as you are for tonight, and tomorrow, if he wishes to claim you, good! let him do so. But if he does not
wish to claim you, as the LORD lives, I will claim you myself. Lie
there until morning." [RUTH 3:7-13]
Boaz took Ruth. When they came together as man
and wife, the LORD enabled her to conceive and she bore a son.
Then the women said to Naomi, "Blessed is the LORD who has
not failed to provide you today with an heir! May he become famous
in Israel! He will be your comfort and the support of your old
age, for his mother is the daughter-in-law who loves you. She is
worth more to you than seven sons!" [RUTH 4:13-15]
"The LORD puts to death and gives
life; he casts down to the nether world; he raises up again.
The LORD makes poor and makes rich, he humbles, he also
exalts. He raises the needy from the dust; from the ash heap
he lifts up the poor, To seat them with nobles and make
a glorious throne their heritage. He gives to the vower his
vow, and blesses the sleep of the just. For the
pillars of the earth are the LORD'S, and he has set the world
upon them. He will guard the footsteps of his faithful
ones, but the wicked shall perish in the darkness. For
not by strength does man prevail; the LORD'S foes shall be
shattered. The Most High in heaven thunders; The LORD
judges the ends of the earth, Now may he give strength to his
king, and exalt the horn of his anointed!" [1SAM 2:6-10]
And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, as
they were leaving for home. He would say, "May the LORD repay
you with children from this woman for the gift she has made to the
LORD!" The LORD favored Hannah so that she conceived and gave
birth to three more sons and two daughters, while young Samuel
grew up in the service of the LORD. [1SAM 2:20-21]
Saul went out to greet him, and Samuel asked
him, "What have you done?" Saul replied: "When I
saw that the men were slipping away from me, since you had not
come by the specified time, and with the Philistines assembled at
Michmash, I said to myself, 'Now the Philistines will come down
against me at Gilgal, and I have not yet sought the LORD'S
blessing.'" [Taken from 1SAM 13:10-12]
David said to Abigail: "Blessed be the
LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today. Blessed be
your good judgment and blessed be you yourself, who this day have
prevented me from shedding blood and from avenging myself
personally. Otherwise, as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who
has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come so
promptly to meet me, by dawn Nabal would not have had a single man
or boy left alive." [1SAM 25:32-34]
On hearing that Nabal was dead, David said:
"Blessed be the LORD, who has requited the insult I received
at the hand of Nabal, and who restrained his servant from doing
evil, but has punished Nabal for his own evil deeds." David
then sent a proposal of marriage to Abigail. [1SAM 25:39]
Then Saul said: "I have done wrong. Come
back, my son David, I will not harm you again, because you have
held my life precious today. Indeed, I have been a fool and have
made a serious mistake." But David answered: "Here is
the king's spear. Let an attendant come over to get it. The LORD
will reward each man for his justice and faithfulness. Today,
though the LORD delivered you into my grasp, I would not harm the
LORD'S anointed. As I valued your life highly today, so may the
LORD value my life highly and deliver me from all
difficulties." Then Saul said to David: "Blessed are
you, my son David! You shall certainly succeed in whatever you
undertake." David went his way, and Saul returned to his
home. [1SAM 26:21-25]
So David sent messengers to the men of
Jabesh-gilead and said to them: "May you be blessed by the
LORD for having done this kindness to your lord Saul in burying
him. And now may the LORD be kind and faithful to you. I, too,
will be generous to you for having done this. Take courage,
therefore, and prove yourselves valiant men, for though your lord
Saul is dead, the Judahites have anointed me their king." [2SAM
2:5-7]
The ark of the LORD remained in the house of
Obed-edom the Gittite for three months, and the LORD blessed
Obed-edom and his whole house. When it was reported to King David
that the LORD had blessed the family of Obed-edom and all that
belonged to him, David went to bring up the ark of God from the
house of Obed-edom into the City of David amid festivities. [2SAM
6:11-12]
When David returned to bless his own family,
Saul's daughter Michal came out to meet him and said, "How
the king of Israel has honored himself today, exposing himself to
the view of the slave girls of his followers, as a commoner might
do!" But David replied to Michal: "I was dancing before
the LORD. As the LORD lives, who preferred me to your father and
his whole family when he appointed me commander of the LORD'S
people, Israel, not only will I make merry before the LORD, but I
will demean myself even more. I will be lowly in your esteem, but
in the esteem of the slave girls you spoke of I will be
honored." And so Saul's daughter Michal was childless to the
day of her death. [2SAM 6:20-23]
"Do, then, bless the house of your servant that
it may be before you forever; for you, Lord GOD, have promised,
and by your blessing the house of your servant shall be blessed
forever." [Taken from 2SAM 7:29]
Then the king said to Joab: "I hereby grant
this request. Go, therefore, and bring back young Absalom."
Falling prostrate to the ground in homage and blessing the king,
Joab said, "This day I know that I am in good favor with you,
my lord the king, since the king has granted the request of his
servant." [Taken from 2SAM 14:21-22]
Then Ahimaaz called out and greeted the king.
With face to the ground he paid homage to the king and said,
"Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delivered up the men
who rebelled against my lord the king." [2SAM 18:28]
David said to the Gibeonites, "What must I
do for you and how must I make atonement, that you may bless the
inheritance of the LORD?" [2SAM 21:3]
"The LORD live! And blessed be my Rock!
Extolled be my God, rock of my salvation." [2SAM 22:47]
"Besides, Solomon took his seat on the royal
throne, and the king's servants went in and paid their respects to
our lord, King David, saying, 'May God make Solomon more famous
than you and exalt his throne more than your own!' And the king in
his bed worshiped God, and this is what he said: 'Blessed be the
LORD, the God of Israel, who has this day seated one of my sons
upon my throne, so that I see it with my own eyes.'" [Taken from 1KGS
1:46-48]
And the king said to Shimei: "You know in
your heart the evil that you did to my father David. Now the LORD
requites you for your own wickedness. But King Solomon shall be
blessed, and David's throne shall endure before the LORD forever."
[1KGS 2:44-45]
When he had heard the words of Solomon, Hiram
was pleased and said, "Blessed be the LORD this day, who has
given David a wise son to rule this numerous people." [1KGS
5:21]
The king turned and greeted the whole community
of Israel as they stood. He said to them: "Blessed be the
LORD, the God of Israel, who with his own mouth made a promise to
my father David and by his hand has brought it to fulfillment."
[Taken from 1KGS 8:14-15]
When Solomon finished offering this entire
prayer of petition to the LORD, he rose from before the altar of
the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands outstretched
toward heaven. He stood and blessed the whole community of Israel,
saying in a loud voice: "Blessed be the LORD who has given
rest to his people Israel, just as he promised. Not a single word
has gone unfulfilled of the entire generous promise he made
through his servant Moses. May the LORD, our God, be with us as he
was with our fathers and may he not forsake us nor cast us off.
May he draw our hearts to himself, that we may follow him in
everything and keep the commands, statutes, and ordinances which
he enjoined on our fathers. May this prayer I have offered to the
LORD, our God, be present to him day and night, that he may uphold
the cause of his servant and of his people Israel as each day
requires, that all the peoples of the earth may know the LORD is
God and there is no other." [Taken from 1KGS 8:54-60]
On the eighth day he dismissed the people, who
bade the king farewell and went to their homes, rejoicing and
happy over all the blessings the LORD had given to his servant
David and to his people Israel. [1KGS 8:66]
"Blessed be the LORD, your God, whom it has
pleased to place you on the throne of Israel. In his enduring love
for Israel, the LORD has made you king to carry out judgment and
justice." [Taken from 1KGS 10:9]
Jabez prayed to the God of Israel: "Oh,
that you may truly bless me and extend my boundaries! Help me and
make me free of misfortune, without pain!" And God granted
his prayer. [1CHRON 4:10]
The ark of God remained in the house of
Obed-edom with his family for three months, and the LORD blessed
Obed-edom's household and all that he possessed. [1CHRON 13:14]
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is
good, for his kindness endures forever; And say, "Save
us, O God, our savior, gather us and deliver us from the
nations, That we may give thanks to your holy name and
glory in praising you." Blessed be the LORD, the God of
Israel, through all eternity! Let all the people say,
Amen! Alleluia. [Taken from 1CHRON 16:34-36]
"Since you, O LORD, are truly God and have
promised this good thing to your servant, and since you have
deigned to bless the house of your servant, so that it will remain
forever - since it is you, O LORD, who blessed it, it is blessed
forever." [Taken from 1CHRON 17:26-27]
As for the classes of gatekeepers. Of the
Korahites was Meshelemiah, the son of Kore, one of the sons of
Abiasaph. Meshelemiah's sons: Zechariah, the first-born, Jediael,
the second son, Zebadiah, the third, Jathniel, the fourth, Elam,
the fifth, Jehohanan, the sixth, Eliehoenai, the seventh.
Obed-edom's sons: Shemaiah, the first-born, Jehozabad, a second
son, Joah, the third, Sachar, the fourth, Nethanel, the fifth,
Ammiel, the sixth, Issachar, the seventh, Peullethai, the eighth,
for God blessed him. [1CHRON 26:1-5]
Then David blessed the LORD in the presence of
the whole assembly, praying in these
words: "Blessed may you be, O LORD, God of Israel
our father, from eternity to eternity. Yours, O LORD,
are grandeur and power, majesty, splendor, and
glory. For all in heaven and on earth is yours; yours, O
LORD, is the sovereignty; you are exalted as head over all. Riches and honor are from you, and you have dominion
over all. In your hand are power and might; it is yours
to give grandeur and strength to all. Therefore, our God, we give
you thanks and we praise the majesty of your name." [1CHRON
29:10-13]
Then David besought the whole assembly,
"Now bless the LORD your God!" And the whole assembly
blessed the LORD, the God of their fathers, bowing down and
prostrating themselves before the LORD and before the king.
[1CHRON 29:20]
He added: "Blessed be the LORD, the God of
Israel, who made heaven and earth, for having given King David a
wise son of intelligence and understanding, who will build a house
for the LORD and also a house for his royal estate." [Taken from
2CHRON 2:11]
Then Solomon said: "The LORD intends to
dwell in the dark cloud. I have truly built you a princely house
and dwelling, where you may abide forever." Turning about,
the king greeted the whole community of Israel as they stood. He
said: "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his
own mouth made a promise to my father David and by his own hands
brought it to fulfillment." [Taken from 2CHRON 6:1-4]
"The account I heard in my country about
your deeds and your wisdom is true," she told the king.
"Yet I did not believe the report until I came and saw with
my own eyes. I have discovered that they did not tell me the half
of your great wisdom; you have surpassed the stories I heard.
Happy are your men, happy these servants of yours, who stand
before you always and listen to your wisdom. Blessed be the LORD,
your God, who has been so pleased with you as to place you on his
throne as king for the LORD, your God. Because your God has so
loved Israel as to will to make it last forever, he has appointed
you over them as king to administer right and justice."
[2CHRON 9:5-8]
On the fourth day they held an assembly in the
Valley of Beracah - for there they blessed the LORD; therefore that
place has ever since been called the Valley of Beracah. [2CHRON
20:26]
There was great rejoicing in Jerusalem, for
since the days of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel, there had
not been the like in the city. Then the levitical priests rose and
blessed the people; their voice was heard and their prayer reached
heaven, God's holy dwelling. [2CHRON 30:26-27]
Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who
thus disposed the mind of the king to glorify the house of the
LORD in Jerusalem, and who let me find favor with the king, with
his counselors, and with all the most influential royal officials.
I therefore took courage and, with the hand of the LORD, my God,
upon me, I gathered together Israelite family heads to make the
return journey with me. [EZRA 7:27-28]
Ezra opened the scroll so that all the people
might see it (for he was standing higher up than any of the
people); and, as he opened it, all the people rose. Ezra blessed
the LORD, the great God, and all the people, their hands raised
high, answered, "Amen, amen!" Then they bowed down and
prostrated themselves before the LORD, their faces to the ground. [NEH
8:5-6]
The Levites Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah,
Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah said, "Arise,
bless the LORD, your God, from eternity to eternity!" The
Israelites answered with the blessing, "Blessed is your
glorious name, and exalted above all blessing and praise." [NEH
9:5]
At that time, when there was reading from the
book of Moses in the hearing of the people, it was found written
there that "no Ammonite or Moabite may ever be admitted into
the assembly of God; for they would not succor the Israelites with
food and water, but they hired Balaam to curse them, though our
God turned the curse into a blessing." When they had heard
the law, they separated from Israel every foreign element. [NEH
13:1-3]
At that time, then, she spread out her hands,
and facing the window, poured out this prayer: "Blessed are
you, O Lord, merciful God! Forever blessed and honored is your
holy name; may all your works forever bless you." [Taken from TOBIT 3:11]
"Be on your guard, son, against every form
of immorality, and above all, marry a woman of the lineage of your
forefathers. Do not marry a stranger who is not of your father's
tribe, because we are sons of the prophets. My boy, keep in mind
Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, our fathers from of old: all of
them took wives from among their own kinsmen and were blessed in
their children. Remember that their posterity shall inherit the
land." [TOBIT 4:12]
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