Bless
(1.) God blesses his people when he bestows on them some gift temporal or spiritual (Gen 1:22; Gen 24:35; Job 42:12; Ps 45:2; Ps 104:24, Ps 104:35).
(2.) We bless God when we thank him for his mercies (Ps 103:1, Ps 103:2; Ps 145:1, Ps 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; Ps 49:18).
(4.) One blesses another when he expresses good wishes or offers prayer to God for his welfare (Gen 24:60; Gen 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; Gen 27:28, Gen 27:29, Gen 27:40; Gen 48:15–20; Gen 49:1–28; Deut 33:1–29). The priests were divinely authorized to bless the people (Deut 10:8; Num 6:22–27). 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. Ps 116:13 refers to this custom. It is also alluded to in 1 Cor 10:16, where the apostle speaks of the “cup of blessing.”
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.
