blessing: praise offered up to God, or the favor, benefit, or generous gift bestowed on a person
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled
The word is built from "good" and "word," and that root runs through everything it means: it is the good spoken about someone, or over someone, or up to God. The one word travels in two directions at once. People send it upward to God as praise, and God sends it downward on people as favor.
Out of that favor comes its most concrete side. A blessing here is not only a warm wish but real good actually handed over. Paul can call a cash collection a "blessing" (2 Corinthians 9:5) precisely because a blessing is something given, not merely felt. At the Lord's table the "cup of blessing" (1 Corinthians 10:16) is the cup over which thanks is spoken. It sits close to grace (χάρις), God's unearned favor, but where grace names the kindly disposition behind the gift, a blessing is that favor put into words or delivered into hands.
Nuances
1apraise offered up to God: ascribing blessing to him
Jas 3:10Rev 5:12Rev 5:13Rev 7:12
1bthe favor or benefit God bestows, and that a person receives or inherits
Rom 15:29Gal 3:14Eph 1:3Heb 6:7Heb 12:171Pe 3:9
1ca generous gift freely given; a bounty
2Co 9:5 (2×)*2Co 9:6 (2×)
1dthe blessing of thanks spoken over the cup at the Lord's table
1Co 10:16
2
flattery: fine-sounding, smooth speech used to win people over and deceive them
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong
Once, in Romans 16:18, the same "good words" turn sinister. Here the term means smooth, flattering talk aimed at deceiving unsuspecting hearers. The very quality that makes a blessing pleasant, agreeable and well-crafted speech, is turned into a tool for manipulation.
English keeps two separate words, "blessing" and "flattery," so a reader would never guess they are the same Greek word. Paul is trading on exactly that irony: speech that sounds like a blessing but is bent toward deceit.
can mean praise sent up to God, not only good received from himRev 5:12
can name a concrete, generous gift actually handed over2Co 9:5
Both
both name good freely invoked upon or bestowed on someoneEph 1:3Gal 3:14
Only blessing
In everyday English "blessing" can sound like vague good fortune or a pious sign-off, softer and more sentimental than the real favor and benefit the Greek names.
“praise”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“gift”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“bounty”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
“flattery”
Comparison data is not available for this English gloss yet.
How eulogia differs from similar Greek words
χάριςgrace is God's unearned favor as a disposition; a blessing is that favor spoken out or handed over.
Its whole meaning stays fixed on praise voiced up to God, thanksgiving offered like a sacrifice. It never widens out to name a gift given or a good word spoken over someone.Heb 13:15
κολακείαflattery is always manipulative by definition; "fine words" turn into flattery only in the one place the word is used to deceive (Romans 16:18).
κολακεία is flattery through and through: praise faked to win someone over and quietly serve the speaker's own advantage.1Th 2:5
εὐχαριστίαthanksgiving is gratitude sent back to God for what he has done; a blessing can travel either way, spoken up to God as praise or bestowed down on people as favor.
The grateful response sent back to God for benefits actually received, not praise of who he is but thanks for what he has done.2Co 4:152Co 9:112Co 9:121Th 3:9
The thanks that frames and accompanies prayer.Php 4:6Col 4:21Co 14:16
Gratitude expressed to a human benefactor for services rendered.Act 24:3
Names something that can be received, inherited, or passed along: the promise made to Abraham reaching the nations, farmland getting rain from God, Esau trying to claim back what he had traded away.Gal 3:14Heb 6:7Heb 12:17
Can mean a concrete, material gift of money, given open-handedly rather than squeezed out of the giver.2Co 9:52Co 9:6
Travels between people, not only upward to God: Christians are told to answer insults with it, and the same mouth that speaks it can also curse.1Pe 3:9Jas 3:10
Names the words spoken over something, so a cup can take its name from the thanks said over it.1Co 10:16
Appears as one item in a list of things worshipers ascribe to God and to the Lamb, sitting alongside power, honor, and glory.Rev 5:12Rev 5:13Rev 7:12
Can be counterfeited, since smooth and flattering words are used to fool trusting people.Rom 16:18
Can be spoken of in measures, as a full supply that arrives along with the person who brings it.Rom 15:29
Both
Both belong to the language of worship, and one sentence can hold them together: God is hailed as worthy of praise, then named as the one who has poured out every good thing his people have in heaven.Eph 1:3
Both grow out of the same idea of speaking well of someone, so both are said out loud in set words of praise rather than merely felt: Zechariah's opening cry and heaven's chorus are each spoken aloud.Luk 1:68Rev 7:12
Says something about the person being praised rather than naming a thing that is handed over: God himself is the one called worthy of praise.Luk 1:682Co 1:31Pe 1:3
Can stand alone as a reverent title in place of God's name: at Jesus' trial the high priest asks whether he is the Son of "the Blessed One".Mrk 14:61
Marks a permanent standing rather than a single occasion, since God is described as the one who is praised forever.Rom 1:25Rom 9:52Co 11:31
eulogia in the other biblical languages
בְּרָכָהHebrew“blessing”the standard Hebrew word this one renders; it carries the same full range, from a spoken blessing to divine favor to a concrete present.
Worshipful praise lifted up to God and to the Lamb in heaven's great acclamations, where the word names adoration flowing upward rather than favor coming down.Rev 5:12Rev 5:13Rev 7:12
Smooth, fine-sounding speech used to flatter and mislead, a negative shade where the outward form of a blessing masks bad intent.Rom 16:18
Both
A blessing invoked or bestowed that brings God's favor upon a person or a people, with the New Testament word reaching straight back to the promise first spoken over Abraham.Gen 12:2Gal 3:14
A generous gift handed over as a tangible token of blessing and goodwill toward the one who receives it.1Sa 25:272Ki 5:152Co 9:52Co 9:6
The formal family blessing that carries a person's destiny and inheritance, something that can be conferred, seized by another, or bitterly mourned when lost.Gen 27:35Gen 27:36Gen 28:4
Concrete, overflowing prosperity, especially an abundant harvest and material wealth, as the visible result of God's favor on the land and its people.Deu 28:2Lev 25:21Pro 10:22
What scholars say about eulogia
From εὖ ("well") and λόγος ("word"), εὐλογία means "fine speaking, good word." In classical Greek it ranges from elegant language and eulogy to praise. The Septuagint made it the standard rendering of Hebrew בְּרָכָה, absorbing that word's fuller range: the pronounced blessing, the divine favor received, and the concrete gift or present. The New Testament inherits this breadth: praise ascribed to God (Revelation 5:12), the divine benefit bestowed and inherited (Ephesians 1:3;Hebrews 12:17), a generous material gift (2 Corinthians 9:5-6), and the thanksgiving spoken over the cup at the Lord's table (1 Corinthians 10:16). A single pejorative use survives from the classical "fine speech" sense, namely the "smooth talk and flattery" of Romans 16:18. The reciprocity between God blessing humanity and humanity blessing (praising) God is a defining feature of the word's biblical use.
Sources
BDAG, s.v. εὐλογίαlexicon
H. W. Beyer, "εὐλογέω, εὐλογητός, εὐλογία," TDNT 2:754-765dictionary
Louw & Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domainslexicon