BLESS

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

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

(3.) A man blesses himself when he invokes God's blessing (Isa. 65:16), or rejoices in God's goodness to him (Deut. 29:19; Psa 49:18).

(4.) One blesses another when he expresses good wishes or offers prayer to God for his welfare (Gen. 24:60;31:55; 1-Sam 2:20). Sometimes blessings were uttered under divine inspiration, as in the case of Noah, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses (Gen. 9:26, Gen. 9: 27;27:28, 27: 29, 40;48:15;49:1; Deut. 33). The priests were divinely authorized to bless the people (Deut. 10:8; Num. 6:22). We have many examples of apostolic benediction (2-Cor 13:14; Eph. 6:23, Eph. 6: 24; 2-Thess 3:16, 2-Thess 3: 18; Heb. 13:20, Heb. 13: 21; 1-Pet 5:10, 1-Pet 5: 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. Psa 116:13 refers to this custom. It is also alluded to in 1-Cor 10:16, 1-Cor 10: where the apostle speaks of the "cup of blessing."