1 Raja-raja 8:14

8:14 Then the king turned around ¹  and pronounced a blessing over the whole Israelite assembly as they stood there. ² 

Bilangan 6:23-26

6:23 “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is the way ³  you are to bless ⁴  the Israelites. Say ⁵  to them:

6:24 “The Lord bless you ⁶  and protect ⁷  you;

6:25 The Lord make his face to shine upon you,

and be gracious to you; ⁸ 

6:26 The Lord lift up his countenance upon you ⁹ 

and give you peace.”’

Bilangan 6:2

6:2 “Speak to the Israelites, and tell them, ‘When either a man or a woman ¹⁰  takes a special vow, ¹¹  to take a vow ¹²  as a Nazirite, ¹³  to separate ¹⁴  himself to the Lord,

1 Samuel 6:18

6:18 The gold mice corresponded in number to all the Philistine cities of the five leaders, from the fortified cities to hamlet villages, to greater Abel, ¹⁵  where they positioned the ark of the Lord until this very day in the field of Joshua who was from Beth Shemesh.

1 Samuel 6:1

The Philistines Return the Ark

6:1 When the ark of the Lord had been in the land ¹⁶  of the Philistines for seven months, ¹⁷ 

1 Samuel 16:2

16:2 Samuel replied, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me!” But the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you ¹⁸  and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’

[8:14]  ¹ tn Heb “turned his face.”

[8:14]  ² tn Heb “and he blessed all the assembly of Israel, and all the assembly of Israel was standing.”

[6:23]  ³ tn Or “thus.”

[6:23]  ⁴ tn The Piel imperfect has the nuance of instruction. The particle “thus” explains that the following oracle is the form to use.

[6:23]  ⁵ tn Here is the only use of the verb אָמַר (’amar) as an infinitive absolute; it functions as a verb form, an imperative or an imperfect of instruction. Several commentators have attempted to emend the text to get around the difficulty, but such emendations are unnecessary.

[6:24]  ⁶ tn The short blessing uses the jussive throughout, here the Piel jussive with a pronominal suffix. While the jussive has quite a range of nuances, including wish, desire, prayer, or greeting, the jussives here are stronger. The formal subject of the verb is the Lord, and the speaker pronouncing the blessing is the priest, notably after emerging from the holy of holies where atonement has been made. The Lord says in this passage that when the priest says this, then the Lord will bless them. The jussive then is an oracle, not a wish or a prayer. It is a declaration of what the Lord imparts. It is as binding and sure as a patriarchal blessing which once said officially could not be taken back. The priest here is then pronouncing the word of the Lord, declaring to the congregation the outcome of the atonement.

[6:24]  ⁷ tn The verb “to keep” concerns the divine protection of the people; its basic meaning is “to exercise great care over,” “to guard,” or “to give attention to” (see TWOT 2:939). No doubt the priestly blessing informed the prayer and promise that makes up Ps 121, for the verb occurs six times in the eight verses. So in addition to the divine provision (“bless” basically means “enrich” in a number of ways) there is the assurance of divine protection.

[6:25]  ⁸ tn Whereas the first line of the blessing had three Hebrew words, the second has five, and the third has seven. In this second line and the following third, the blessing takes the form of an emblem followed by the truth. For the Lord to make his face shine on them would mean to be gracious to them. M. Noth rightly calls this image of the shining face “a figure of speech for benevolence and favour” (Numbers [OTL], 59); see, for example, Pss 4:7; 31:17; 44:4; 67:2; 80:4, 8, 20; 119:135; Dan 9:17). The image may have its inspiration in the theophanies. The picture is of divine favor – the beaming face of a parent for his beloved.

[6:26]  ⁹ tn The last line of the blessing also has first the image and then the parallel interpretation – for God to lift up his face is for God to give peace. The idea of the fallen face is one of anger (see Gen 4:6,7); and the idea of the hidden face is that of withholding support, favor, or peace (see Deut 31:18; Ps 30:8; Ps 44:25). If God lifts his face toward his people, it means he has given them peace – peace, prosperity, completeness, health, safety, general well-being, and the like.

[6:2]  ¹⁰ tn The formula is used here again: “a man or a woman – when he takes.” The vow is open to both men and women.

[6:2]  ¹¹ tn The vow is considered special in view of the use of the verb יַפְלִא (yafli’), the Hiphil imperfect of the verb “to be wonderful, extraordinary.”

[6:2]  ¹² tn The construction uses the infinitive construct followed by the cognate accusative: “to vow a vow.” This intensifies the idea that the vow is being taken carefully.

[6:2]  ¹³ tn The name of the vow is taken from the verb that follows; נָזַר (nazar) means “to consecrate oneself,” and so the Nazirite is a consecrated one. These are folks who would make a decision to take an oath for a time or for a lifetime to be committed to the Lord and show signs of separation from the world. Samuel was to be a Nazirite, as the fragment of the text from Qumran confirms – “he will be a נָזִיר (nazir) forever” (1 Sam 1:22).

[6:2]  ¹⁴ tn The form of the verb is an Hiphil infinitive construct, forming the wordplay and explanation for the name Nazirite. The Hiphil is here an internal causative, having the meaning of “consecrate oneself” or just “consecrate to the Lord.”

[6:18]  ¹⁵ tc A few Hebrew mss and the LXX read “villages; the large rock…[is witness] until this very day.”

[6:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “field.”

[6:1]  ¹⁷ tc The LXX adds “and their land swarmed with mice.”

[16:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “in your hand.”