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Concept
Blessing
Summary
In religion, a blessing (also used to refer to bestowing of such) is the impartation of something with grace, holiness, spiritual redemption, or divine will.
The modern English language term bless likely derives from the 1225 term blessen, which developed from the Old English blǣdsian (preserved in the Northumbrian dialect around 950 AD). The term also appears in other forms, such as blēdsian (before 830), blētsian from around 725 and blesian from around 1000, all meaning to make sacred or holy by a sacrificial custom in the Anglo-Saxon pagan period, originating in Germanic paganism; to mark with blood. Due to this, the term is related to the term blōd, meaning 'blood'. References to this indigenous practice, Blót, exist in related Icelandic sources.
The modern meaning of the term may have been influenced in translations of the Bible into Old English during the process of Christianization to translate the Latin term benedīcere meaning 'to speak well of', resulting in meanings such as 'to praise' or 'extol' or 'to speak of' or 'to wish well'.
Abrahamic religions
'To be blessed' means to be favored by God, the source of all blessing. Blessings, therefore, are directly associated with, and are believed to come from, God. Thus, to express a blessing is like bestowing a wish on someone that they experience the favor of God, and to acknowledge God as the source of all blessing.
A biblical damnation, in its most formal sense, is a negative blessing.
In the Bible, positive and negative blessings are related; the book of Deuteronomy prescribes that obedience to the Law of Moses brings God's blessing. One of the first incidences of blessing in the Bible is in Genesis, where Abram is ordered by the God to leave his country and is told:
"I will bless you, I will make your name great."
The Priestly Blessing is set forth at Numbers :
May Adonai bless you, and guard you;
May Adonai make His countenance shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
May Adonai turn His countenance to you and grant you peace.
Official source
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