Biblical Hebrew Forum

[sujata <shevaroys AT yahoo.com>]

I find it amazing that "bless" has many meanings in Hebrew as in 
English.Would that be true for Aramaic, Arabic, etc.? In a few non-European 
languages that I know, the word for bless is entirely different from those 
for praise, thanks, worship, etc. The Hebrew word brki is translated in 
Bibles in those languages as praise or salute(salutation). 
   
   In what situation would brki or its derivatives be used as opposed to the 
word for praise e.g., aude in Gen 29:35  elulim in Lev 19:24 or ubrkth in Deu 
8:10?  Is brki more of a thankful praise (Deu 8:10?) as opposed to other 
forms of praises?
   
  Best wishes,
  sujata 

Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il> wrote:
  That's exactly what it means: "bless". In Hebrew, like in English, the word 
"bless" has a number of different connotations. When God blesses someone, he 
makes things better. When a human blesses, he calls on God to make things 
better. When a human blesses God, he actually praises and thanks Him. And 
"bless" is also occasionally used as a euphemism for "curse".

The noun "berekh" also means "knee", which can be given a verb-form "to 
kneel". I have heard it assumed that there is a connection, that is, a 
person bends his "berekh" when "barekh"ing God, but that's probably popular 
folk etymology.

Yigal
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "sujata" 
To: "b-hebrew" 
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2006 5:39 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Bless


> What is the literal translation of the hebrew word (brki?) translated in 
> the English Bible as Bless? (eg. Ps 103:1)
>
> Thanks.
> Sujata
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