Blessing

God is the source of all blessing

1 Chronicles 29:11–12 LEB

To you, O Yahweh, is the greatness and the power and the splendor and the glory and the strength, for everything in the heavens and in the earth. Yours, O Yahweh, is the kingdom and exaltation over all as head! And wealth and glory are from you, and you rule over all. And in your hand is power and might. And in your hand is power to make great and to give strength to all.

See also Ps 89:11

At creation he blessed humans with fertility and authority over the earth

Genesis 1:28–30 LEB

And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of heaven, and over every animal that moves upon the earth.” And God said, “Look—I am giving to you every plant that bears seed which is on the face of the whole earth, and every kind of tree that bears fruit. They shall be yours as food.” And to every kind of animal of the earth and to every bird of heaven, and to everything that moves upon the earth in which there is life I am giving every green plant as food.” And it was so.

The disobedience of Adam and Eve caused God to remove his blessing

Genesis 3:16–19 LEB

To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bear children. And to your husband shall be your desire. And he shall rule over you.” And to Adam he said, “Because you listened to the voice of your wife and you ate from the tree from which I forbade you to eat, the ground shall be cursed on your account. In pain you shall eat from it all the days of your life. And thorns and thistles shall sprout for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread, until your return to the ground. For from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

See also Ge 6:5–7

After the flood God renewed his promise of blessing to Noah

Genesis 9:1–3 LEB

And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. And fear of you and dread of you shall be upon every animal of the earth, and on every bird of heaven, and on everything that moves upon the ground, and on all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they shall be given. Every moving thing that lives shall be for you as food. As I gave the green plants to you, I now give you everything.

See also Job 5:10; Ge 8:22; Ps 65:9–13

The blessings promised to Abraham

The blessings included descendants and nationhood

Genesis 12:2–3 LEB

And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great. And you will be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse. And all families of the earth will be blessed in you.”

See also Is 51:2; Ge 17:1–8; Ge 18:18; Ge 26:4; Ge 35:11; Ex 1:6–7; Dt 1:10–11; Dt 7:13; 1 Ki 3:8; Ne 9:23

The blessings included land

Genesis 17:8 LEB

And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land in which you are living as an alien, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting property. And I will be to them as God.”

See also Dt 1:8; Ge 12:7; Ge 26:3; Dt 4:40; Dt 11:8–12

The promises of blessing to Abraham were fulfilled in Jesus Christ

Galatians 3:16 LEB

Now to Abraham and to his descendant the promises were spoken. It does not say, “and to descendants,” as concerning many, but as concerning one, “and to your descendant,” who is Christ.

See also Ga 3:29; Ac 3:25–26

Blessings promised to Israel

Blessings of fruitfulness and prosperity

Deuteronomy 7:13–14 LEB

And he will love you, and he will bless you, and he will multiply you, and he will bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your soil, your grain, your wine, and your olive oil, and newborn calves of your cattle, and the newborn lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your ancestors to give you. You shall be blessed more than all of the peoples; among you there shall not be sterility and bareness, even among domestic animals.

See also Ge 49:25; Le 26:10; Dt 15:4; Dt 28:8; Dt 28:12

Blessings of good health and long life

Exodus 23:25–26 LEB

And you will serve Yahweh your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will remove sickness from among you. There will be no one suffering miscarriage or infertile in your land. I will make full the number of your days.

See also Ex 15:26; Dt 7:15

Blessings of peace and victory over enemies

Deuteronomy 28:7 LEB

“Yahweh will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; on one road they shall come out against you, but on seven roads they shall flee before you.

See also Ex 23:22; Le 26:6–8; Dt 7:24; Ps 29:11

The promise of being blessed by future restoration

Jeremiah 31:23 LEB

Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, “They will again say these words in the land of Judah and in its towns at my restoring their fortunes, ‘Yahweh bless you, O settlement of righteousness, O hill of holiness.’

See also Is 61:9; Is 65:17–25; Eze 34:25–31

The conditions of God’s blessings

Fear of the Lord brings blessing

Jeremiah 32:40 LEB

And I will make with them an everlasting covenant that I will not turn away from them, my doing good to them, and my reverence I will put in their hearts so that they will not turn aside from me.

See also Dt 6:1–3; Dt 10:12–20; Ec 12:13; Is 50:10

Obedience to the Lord brings blessing

Deuteronomy 11:26–28 LEB

“See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God that I am commanding you today, and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, but rather you turn from the way that I am commanding you today to go after other gods that you have not known.

See also Dt 28:1–14; Dt 30:15–20

To bless God is to worship and adore him

Nehemiah 9:5 LEB

Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah said, “Stand up, bless Yahweh your God from everlasting until everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name that is being exalted above all blessing and praise!

See also Ge 9:26; Ge 14:20

People may bless one another in the name of the Lord

Nu 6:24–26 There is a close link between blessing and prayer.

See also 1 Ch 4:10; Ge 27:27–29; Ge 49:1–28; Ru 1:8–9; 1 Sa 2:20; Mt 23:39