Bless

Blessing in the biblical world operates in several directions simultaneously and is one of the richest theological concepts in Scripture. God blesses his creatures when he confers good things upon them—life, fruitfulness, prosperity, and peace—as in the creation blessing of Genesis 1:22 and the patriarchal blessings of Abraham. Humans bless God when they praise and thank him for his goodness, acknowledging him as the source of all good gifts. Humans bless one another through words of benediction and intercession that invoke God's favor on the recipient, as in Aaron's priestly blessing of Numbers 6:24-26 or the patriarchal deathbed blessings.

The theology of blessing reaches its culmination in the Abrahamic covenant promise that through Abraham all the families of the earth would be blessed—a promise Paul interprets in Galatians 3 as fulfilled in Christ, through whom the blessing of Abraham comes to the Gentiles by faith. Jesus's Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount pronounce divine blessing (Greek makarios, also translated happy or fortunate) on those whose condition and character receive God's approval, often reversing worldly assessments of who is enviable. The book of Revelation concludes with seven beatitudes, the last announcing blessed those who wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, granting them access to the tree of life in the new creation.