barakh

בָּרַךְ

HebrewH1288“bless, praise, ...”

Appears 330 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 1:22Gen 1:28Gen 2:3Gen 5:2Gen 9:1Gen 9:26Gen 14:19 (2×)Gen 14:20Gen 22:17 (2×)Gen 24:1Gen 24:27Gen 24:35Gen 24:60Gen 25:11Gen 26:12Gen 27:23Gen 27:27 (2×)Gen 27:29Gen 27:30Gen 27:33Gen 27:41Gen 28:1Gen 28:3Gen 28:6 (2×)Gen 30:27Gen 30:30Gen 31:55(32:1)Gen 32:29(30)Gen 35:9Gen 39:5Gen 48:16Gen 48:20 (2×)Gen 49:28Exo 18:10Exo 20:11Exo 23:25Lev 9:22Lev 9:23Num 6:24Num 6:27Num 22:12Num 23:11Num 23:20 (2×)Num 23:25Num 24:1Num 24:9Num 24:10Deu 2:7Deu 7:13 (2×)Deu 7:14

Root family

barakhבָּרַךְto bless330H1288

Names & words formed with this

Word studyResearch-gradeba-RAKHverb

What barakh means

to bless: to invoke or hand on God's favor and life-giving power for someone, and (of people toward God) to honor him as its source

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

At its heart this word names a flow of favor and well-being that always runs back to God as its source. When God is the one who blesses, he actually grants the things that make life flourish: children, food, land, protection, and his own presence. When a person blesses another, the word means they call that favor down on someone, entrusting them to God, most solemnly when a father hands his inheritance-blessing to his heir or a leader sends a people on their way. And when people bless God, they turn the same word back toward him in praise, owning him as the giver of every good thing.

These uses are one word, not several, because they all move along that single line of favor between God and people, only in different directions. The word's force shifts with the direction:

a real bestowal of good when God speaks it downward
an invoking of good when a person speaks it over another
a grateful acknowledgment when it is aimed up at God

Even the everyday use for greeting or taking leave of someone is a courteous edge of the same idea, a small wish of well-being. The older notion that the word transferred a stored-up soul-power, like a substance that could be used up or passed on, is now generally set aside; the blessing works because God stands behind the words, not because the words carry a force of their own.

Two uses deserve a flag for the careful reader. The worn-down greeting sense can shade into simple politeness, so context decides whether a real blessing is meant or just a friendly salute. And in a small, famous group of verses the word plainly means its opposite, to "curse," used as a deliberately reverent stand-in for a word (ארר) too offensive to put on the page when the object is God or the king.

Nuances

1aof God: to grant favor, fruitfulness, and well-being

Gen 1:22Gen 1:28Gen 2:3Gen 9:1Gen 12:2Gen 24:1Gen 26:12Gen 39:5Exo 20:11Exo 23:25Deu 2:7Deu 7:13 (2×)

1bof a person: to call God's favor down on someone, especially a father over his heir or a leader over the people

Gen 14:19 (2×)Gen 27:4Gen 27:23Gen 27:27 (2×)Gen 27:34Gen 48:9Gen 48:15Gen 49:28Num 6:24Num 6:27Num 22:6Num 23:11

1cof a person toward God: to praise and adore him as the source of every good

Gen 24:48Jdg 5:2Jdg 5:91Ch 29:101Ch 29:20 (2×)Neh 9:5Psa 16:7Psa 26:12Psa 34:1Psa 63:4(5)Psa 66:8Psa 96:2

1dto declare someone blessed, the recipient of favor: "blessed be"

Gen 9:26Gen 14:19 (2×)Gen 14:20Gen 24:27Gen 24:31Gen 26:29Gen 27:29Exo 18:10Num 22:12Num 24:9Deu 7:14Deu 28:3 (2×)

1eto greet or take leave of someone with a wish of well-being

Gen 31:55(32:1)Gen 47:7Gen 47:10Rut 2:41Sa 13:101Sa 25:142Sa 8:102Sa 13:252Sa 19:39(40)1Ki 1:472Ki 4:292Ki 10:15

1fused as a reverent stand-in for a word that means to curse, when the object is God or the king

1Ki 21:101Ki 21:13Job 1:5Job 1:11Job 2:5Job 2:9Psa 10:3

to kneel: to go down on the knees, as in reverence before God or to make an animal lie down

TranslatabilityDirectCertaintyContested

In a small number of places the same written word means simply to kneel, going down on the knees. People kneel before God in worship, and the word is used once of making camels kneel down to rest at a well. This is the plain bodily action, with no thought of blessing in view.

Whether this is truly the same word as "to bless" or a separate look-alike is an old and unsettled question. The noun for "knee" is spelled from the same three letters and is common, and related languages keep both meanings together, so many treat blessing and kneeling as branches of one ancient word, perhaps joined by the picture of kneeling to receive or to ask. Others keep them apart as two unrelated words that happen to look alike. Because the senses are so different in everyday use, this resource lists kneeling separately while flagging the open question of whether it shares a root with blessing.

Nuances

2ato kneel down, especially before God in worship

2Ch 6:13Psa 95:6

2bto make an animal kneel down

Gen 24:11

What barakh does not mean

English Bibles use "bless" for nearly every occurrence, which hides how much the word shifts: God blessing people (real benefit given), people blessing God (praise), and people greeting one another (a courteous hello or goodbye) are not the same act, even though one English word covers them all. In a few Job and Naboth verses the very same word means the opposite, to "curse," used as a reverent stand-in for a word (ארר) too offensive to write against God or the king; do not read "bless" literally there. Do not picture a stored-up power or substance being passed along, as if a blessing were a thing that could run out; the blessing takes effect because God honors it, not because the words hold a force of their own. And do not load the word with later church ideas of a formal benediction; here it is the down-to-earth flow of favor and life.

What scholars say about barakh

The standard lexica recognize a four-part range for the verb in its common (piel) use: God or a person conferring or invoking fruitfulness, prosperity, and favor; people honoring God in declarative praise; an everyday greeting or farewell; and a small group of passages (Job 1-2; 1 Kings 21:10,13; Psalm 10:3) where it reverently stands for "to curse." The lexica divide on whether "bless" and "kneel" are one root or two: BDB keeps a single root with "kneel" as primary, while HALOT and NIDOTTE (Brown) split them into homonyms; Mitchell's monograph (the major study of the verb) refuses to let etymology settle the meaning. The comparative-Semitic data (Arabic baraka/barakah, Ugaritic brk) keep both "kneel" and "bless" in one root, making complete separation hard to defend, though the bridge between the senses is reconstructed rather than attested in Hebrew. On what blessing is, three older framings (Pedersen-Mowinckel-Johnson's transferable soul-power; an Austin-style speech-act; Scharbert-Wehmeier's wish or intercessory prayer) have largely converged: the current consensus (Scharbert, Westermann, Wehmeier, Mitchell, with Aitken mediating) is a relational, declarative speech-act that entrusts the addressee to God, who is its real source. Westermann's influential distinction between God's punctiliar saving acts and his continuous blessing survives as a heuristic but not as a strict dichotomy (Brueggemann, Miller, Spieckermann). The euphemistic "curse" group is read either as the writers' own euphemism (McCarthy, Mangum, Tov), as a pious scribal substitution (Geiger, Noldeke), or as a deliberate literary ambiguity exploited by the book of Job (Linafelt, Seow).

Where scholars disagree about barakh

Whether "to bless" and "to kneel" are one ancient word (with kneeling and blessing as branches of a single root) or two unrelated words that merely look alike.

contestedOne root: the verb covers both kneeling and blessing, with the noun for "knee" from the same letters; BDB makes "kneel" the primary sense and "bless" a development of it, and the Arabic and Ugaritic evidence keep both meanings together.; F. Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon, s.v. ברך
contestedTwo homonyms: "to bless" and "to kneel" are separate words, listed apart with the relationship left explicitly uncertain.; L. Koehler, W. Baumgartner, and J. J. Stamm, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon (HALOT), s.v. ברך; M. L. Brown, "ברך," in NIDOTTE, vol. 1

How the promise to Abraham should be read where the verb takes a reflexive-or-passive form (Genesis 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14): that all the families of the earth will be blessed through Abraham, or that they will pronounce blessings on themselves using his name.

contestedPassive: the nations will receive blessing through Abraham and his offspring; this is how the ancient Greek translation, and Acts and Galatians after it, render the promise.; M. L. Brown, "ברך," in NIDOTTE, vol. 1
contestedReflexive: the nations will bless themselves by Abraham, invoking his name as the measure of blessing ("may God make us like Abraham"), as in Jacob's words in Genesis 48:20.; C. Westermann, Genesis 12-36: A Commentary (Continental Commentary), on Genesis 12:3
minorityA graduated reading distinguishing the two verb forms: one expresses mediated blessing (the nations are blessed through Abraham), the other reflexivity (they bless themselves by him).; B. J. Noonan, "Abraham, Blessing, and the Nations," Hebrew Studies 51 (2010): 73-93

Why the verb "bless" stands for "curse" in Job 1-2, 1 Kings 21:10,13, and Psalm 10:3, where context plainly requires "curse."

majorityAn authorial euphemism: the biblical writers themselves used "bless" to avoid putting an outright curse of God or king on the page; the substitution is not among the recognized scribal corrections.; C. McCarthy, The Tiqqune Sopherim and Other Theological Corrections, OBO 36; D. T. Mangum, "Euphemism in Biblical Hebrew," HTS Teologiese Studies 76/4 (2020)
minorityA pious scribal substitution: later copyists replaced an original "curse" verb to avoid writing an offense against God, a kind of unrecorded scribal correction.; A. Geiger, Urschrift und Übersetzungen der Bibel
minorityA deliberate literary ambiguity: the clash of "bless" and "curse" is artistically exploited, especially across the prologue of Job, rather than being simply euphemism or scribal change.; T. Linafelt, "The Undecidability of ברך in the Prologue to Job and Beyond," Biblical Interpretation 4 (1996): 154-72; C. L. Seow, Job 1-21: Interpretation and Commentary (Illuminations)

In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

F. Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, s.v. ברךlexicon
L. Koehler, W. Baumgartner, and J. J. Stamm, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT), s.v. ברךlexicon
D. J. A. Clines, ed., The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, vol. 2, s.v. ברךlexicon
C. A. Keller and G. Wehmeier, "ברך brk pi. to bless," in Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament (TLOT), vol. 1theological-dictionary
J. Scharbert, "ברך brk; בְּרָכָה berakah," in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (TDOT), vol. 2theological-dictionary
M. L. Brown, "ברך," in New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis (NIDOTTE), vol. 1theological-dictionary
C. W. Mitchell, The Meaning of BRK "To Bless" in the Old Testament, SBL Dissertation Series 95monograph
J. K. Aitken, The Semantics of Blessing and Cursing in Ancient Hebrew, ANES Supplement 23monograph
C. Westermann, Blessing in the Bible and the Life of the Church, trans. K. Crimmonograph
G. Wehmeier, Der Segen im Alten Testament: Eine semasiologische Untersuchung der Wurzel brkmonograph
J. D. Smoak, The Priestly Blessing in Inscription and Scripture: The Early History of Numbers 6:24-26monograph
B. J. Noonan, "Abraham, Blessing, and the Nations: A Reexamination of the Niphal and Hitpael of ברך in the Patriarchal Narratives," Hebrew Studies 51 (2010): 73-93article
C. McCarthy, The Tiqqune Sopherim and Other Theological Corrections in the Masoretic Text of the Old Testament, OBO 36monograph
D. T. Mangum, "Euphemism in Biblical Hebrew and the Euphemistic 'Bless' in the Septuagint of Job," HTS Teologiese Studies 76/4 (2020)article
T. Linafelt, "The Undecidability of ברך in the Prologue to Job and Beyond," Biblical Interpretation 4 (1996): 154-72article

What barakh means

to bless: to invoke or hand on God's favor and life-giving power for someone, and (of people toward God) to honor him as its source

Nuances

to kneel: to go down on the knees, as in reverence before God or to make an animal lie down

Nuances

Related words

The English words used to translate barakh

How barakh differs from similar Hebrew words

barakh in the other biblical languages

What scholars say about barakh

Where scholars disagree about barakh

Sources

All attested forms of בָּרַךְ

qal passive-participle m s absolute

piel consecutive-imperfect 3ms

piel imperfect 3ms

piel infinitive-construct construct

piel perfect 3ms

piel imperative 2mp

piel consecutive-imperfect 3mp

piel consecutive-perfect 3ms

piel imperfect 1cs

piel imperative 2ms

piel imperfect 2ms

piel perfect 2ms

piel conjunctive-imperfect 1cs

piel imperative 2fs

piel conjunctive-imperfect 3ms

piel consecutive-perfect 1cs

piel jussive 3fs

piel jussive 3ms

pual imperfect 3ms

pual passive-participle m s absolute

hithpael consecutive-perfect 3cp

niphal consecutive-perfect 3cp

piel cohortative 1cs

piel participle m p construct

pual imperfect 3fs

qal passive-participle m p absolute

piel consecutive-imperfect 1cs

piel imperfect 3mp

piel participle m s absolute

piel perfect 1cp

piel perfect 3cp

qal passive-participle f s absolute

qal passive-participle m s construct

hiphil consecutive-imperfect 3ms

hithpael conjunctive-imperfect 3mp

hithpael consecutive-perfect 3ms

hithpael imperfect 3ms

hithpael participle m s absolute

piel conjunctive-imperfect 3mp

piel consecutive-perfect 2mp