Category:Bless

Bless, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Blessed or Blest; p. pr. & vb. n. Blessing.] Etym: [OE. blessien, bletsen, AS. bletsian, bledsian, bloedsian, fr. bl blood; prob. originally to consecrate by sprinkling with blood. See Blood.]

1. To make or pronounce holy; to consecrate And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it. Genesis 2:3.

2. To make happy, blithesome, or joyous; to confer prosperity or happiness upon; to grant divine favor to. The quality of mercy is. . . twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. Shak. It hath pleased thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue forever before thee. 1 Chronicles 17:27 (R. V. )

3. To express a wish or prayer for the happiness of; to invoke a blessing upon; -- applied to persons. Bless them which persecute you. Romans 12:14.

4. To invoke or confer beneficial attributes or qualities upon; to invoke or confer a blessing on, -- as on food. Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them. Luke 9:16.

5. To make the sign of the cross upon; to cross (one's self). [Archaic] Holinshed.

6. To guard; to keep; to protect. [Obs.]

7. To praise, or glorify; to extol for excellences. Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Psalm 103:1.

8. To esteem or account happy; to felicitate. The nations shall bless themselves in him. Jeremiah 4:3.

9. To wave; to brandish. [Obs.] And burning blades about their heads do bless. Spenser. Round his armed head his trenchant blade he blest. Fairfax.

Note: This is an old sense of the word, supposed by Johnson, Nares, and others, to have been derived from the old rite of blessing a field by directing the hands to all parts of it. "In drawing [their bow] some fetch such a compass as though they would turn about and bless all the field." Ascham.

Bless me! Bless us! an exclamation of surprise. Milton. -- To bless from, to secure, defend, or preserve from. "Bless me from marrying a usurer." Shak. To bless the doors from nightly harm. Milton. -- To bless with, To be blessed with, to favor or endow with; to be favored or endowed with; as, God blesses us with health; we are blessed with happiness.

- ---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Bless -

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

(2.) We bless God when we thank Him for His mercies (Psalm 103:1 - 103:2; Psalm 145:1 - 145:2).

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

(4.) One blesses another when he expresses good wishes or offers prayer to God for his welfare (Genesis 24:60; Genesis 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 - 9:27; Genesis 27:28 - 27:29, Genesis 27:40; Genesis 48:15; Genesis 49:1-28; Deuteronomy 33). The priests were divinely authorized to bless the people (Deuteronomy 10:8; Numbers 6:22). We have many examples of apostolic benediction (2 Corinthians 13:14; Ephesians 6:23 - 6:24; 2 Thessalonians 3:16, 2 Thessalonians 3:18; Hebrews 13:20 - 13:21; 1 Peter 5:10 - 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. Psalm 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."