in you . . . shall be blessed

The Hebrew that is translated as “in you (all the families of the earth) shall be blessed” or similar in English is translated in Bura-Pabir as “(all the families of the earth) will bless themselves with your name.” (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

shall be blessed / bless themselves

The Hebrew that is translated as “shall be blessed” or “bless themselves” (see here) in English is translated in the Hausa Common Language Ajami Bible as “you will become to them a means of blessing.” (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)

bless(ed)

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The Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and Aramaic that is translated into English as “(to) bless” or “blessed” is translated into a wide variety of possibilities.

The Hebrew term barak (and the Aramaic term berak) also (and originally) means “kneel” (a meaning which the word has retained — see Gen. 24:11) and can be used for God blessing people (or things), people blessing each other, or people blessing God. While English Bible translators have not seen a stumbling block in always using the same term (“bless” in its various forms), other languages need to make distinctions (see below).

In Bari, spoken in South Sudan, the connection between blessing and knees/legs is still apparent. For Genesis 30:30 (in English: “the Lord has blessed you wherever I turned”), Bari uses a common expression that says (much like the Hebrew), ‘… blessed you to my feet.'” (Source: P. Guillebaud in The Bible Translator 1965, p. 189ff. .)

Other examples for the translation of “bless” when God is the one who blesses include (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):

  • “think well of” (San Blas Kuna)
  • “speak good to” (Amganad Ifugao)
  • “make happy” (Pohnpeian)
  • “cause-to-live-as-a-chief” (Zulu)
  • “sprinkle with a propitious (lit. cool) face” (a poetic expression occurring in the priests’ language) (Toraja Sa’dan) (source for this and above: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
  • “give good things” (Mairasi) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • “ask good” (Yakan) (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • “praise, say good things” (Central Yupik) (source: Robert Bascom)
  • “greatly love” (Candoshi-Shapra) (source: John C. Tuggy)
  • “showing a good heart” (Kutu) (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
  • “good luck — have — good fortune — have” (verbatim) ꓶꓼ ꓙꓳ ꓫꓱꓹ ꓙꓳ — ɯa dzho shes zho (Lisu). This construction follows a traditional four-couplet construct in oral Lisu poetry that is usually in the form ABAC or ABCB. (Source: Arrington 2020, p. 58)

In Tagbanwa a phrase is used for both the blessing done by people and God that back-translates to “caused to be pierced by words causing grace/favor” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).

Ixcatlán Mazatec had to select a separate term when relating “to people ‘blessing’ God” (or things of God): “praise(d)” or “give thanks for” (in 1 Cor. 10:16) (“as it is humans doing the ‘blessing’ and people do not bless the things of God or God himself the way God blesses people” — source: Robert Bascom). Eastern Bru and Kui also use “praise” for this a God-directed blessing (source: Bru back translation and Helen Evans in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) and Uma uses “appropriate/worthy to be worshipped” (source: Uma back translation).

When related to someone who is blessing someone else, it is translated into Tsou as “speak good hopes for.” In Waiwai it is translated as “may God be good and kind to you now.” (Sources: Peng Kuo-Wei for Tsou and Robert Hawkins in The Bible Translator 1962, pp. 164ff. for Waiwai.)

Some languages associate an expression that originally means “spitting” or “saliva” with blessing. The Bantu language Koonzime, for instance, uses that expression for “blessing” in their translation coming from either God or man. Traditionally, the term was used in an application of blessing by an aged superior upon a younger inferior, often in relation to a desire for fertility, or in a ritualistic, but not actually performed spitting past the back of the hand. The spitting of saliva has the effect of giving that person “tenderness of face,” which can be translated as “blessedness.” (Source: Keith Beavon)

Martin Ehrensvärd, one of the translators for the Danish Bibelen 2020, comments on the translation of this term: “As for ‘blessing’, in the end we in most instances actually kept the word, after initially preferring the expression ‘giving life strength’. The backlash against dropping the word blessing was too hard. But we would often add a few words to help the reader understand what the word means in a given context — people often understand it to refer more to a spiritual connection with God, but in the Hebrew texts, it usually has to do with material things or good health or many children. So when e.g. in Isaiah 19:25 the Hebrew text says ‘God bless them’, we say ‘God bless them’ and we add: ‘and give them strength’. ‘And give them strength’ is not found in the overt Hebrew text, but we are again making explicit what we believe is the meaning so as to avoid misunderstanding.” (Source: Ehrensvärd in HIPHIL Novum 8/2023, p. 81ff. )

See also bless (food and drink), blessed (Christ in Mark 11:9), and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse.

See also “Blessed by ‘The Blessing’ in the World’s Indigenous Languages” and Multilingual version of “The Blessing” based on Numbers 6:24-26 .

complete verse (Genesis 12:3)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 12:3:

  • Kankanaey: “The one who does good to you (sing.), I will bless (him), but the one however who mocks/belittles you (sing.), I will punish. On-account-of you (sing.) moreover, the collective-people in all towns/countries will be blessed.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Newari: “To those who give you blessing, I will also give blessing. To those who give you curses, I will also give curses. All ethnic groups living in the world will take blessing from you.'” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “I will-bless those who bless you. But I will-curse those who curse you. I will-bless all the people-groups in the world through you.'” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “I will bless those who bless/ask God to do good things for you, and I will curse/ask God to punish those who do evil things to you. And because of what you do, groups of people all over the earth will receive blessings (OR, people will wish that God will bless others as much as he has blessed you).'” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Genesis 12:3

I will bless those who bless you: the blessing that God grants to Abram is to be extended to include those who show favor and goodwill to Abram. The attitude God takes toward others will depend upon their attitude toward Abram. This line may be translated, for example, “I will show favor to anyone who shows favor to you,” “I will do good to everyone who does good to you,” or sometimes idiomatically “I will show my good heart to all who show their good heart to you.”

And him who curses you I will curse: him translates a singular form of the verb, but the sense is collective. Most translations express the plural in both lines, as does Good News Translation. The Hebrew text has two different verbs meaning to curse, where Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation use a single verb twice. The first Hebrew verb is the one used in 8.21, and the second is the one used in 3.14. See these verses for discussion. There is, however, no attempt to draw a distinction between the two verbs; they are used as a pair of words with the same meaning in this poetic passage. Most languages have adequate terms for cursing in the sense of inflicting harm on someone through a pronouncement against them. If that is not the case, we may sometimes say “And I will cause harm to anyone who causes you harm,” or “I will punish anyone who punishes you.”

And by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves: Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation give different renderings of this sentence and place their alternative translations in their footnotes. The Revised Standard Version text understands the verb bless in a reflexive sense: bless themselves. Other translations interpret the form of the verb bless as passive. Either interpretation is possible. If the verb is taken as a reflexive, the sense is that the nations of the world will ask for blessings on themselves and each other just as the LORD blessed Abram, or as the Good News Translation note says, “All the nations will ask me to bless them as I have blessed you [Abram].” Interpreted as a passive, the meaning is as given in the Revised Standard Version footnote: “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” The passive use of bless may be expressed as an active construction by saying “through you I will bless all the nations” (Good News Translation). However, “through you” may require some adjustment in many languages by saying, for example, “The blessing I have given to you will become a blessing for all nations” or “Because you have received my blessing, all the nations of the world will also receive it.”

Whether the translator follows the one interpretation or the other, the sense seems to be the same, namely, that God’s action of blessing Abram is not limited to him and his descendants but has its goal in all peoples. Translations express this in various ways; for example, “I will use you to bless people in all other countries,” “By means of you I will do good to all groups of people…,” and “Through you I’m going to make all tribes in all countries really happy.”

All the families of the earth: the Hebrew term is often translated “family” as in Revised Standard Version. However, its basic meaning is “subdivision,” “category,” or “clan,” and so it generally refers to groups larger than the family group. Speiser translates “All the communities on earth,” while Revised English Bible and New International Version have “All [the] peoples on earth,” and Good News Translation “All the nations.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .