1 Chronicles 4:10

4:10 Jabez called out to the God of Israel, “If only ¹  you would greatly bless me and expand my territory! May your hand be with me! Keep me from harm so I might not endure pain!” ²  God answered his prayer. ³ 

Psalms 67:1

Psalm 67 ⁴ 

For the music director; to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a psalm, a song.

67:1 May God show us his favor ⁵  and bless us! ⁶ 

May he smile on us! ⁷  (Selah)

Psalms 67:6-7

67:6 The earth yields its crops.

May God, our God, bless us!

67:7 May God bless us! ⁸ 

Then all the ends of the earth will give him the honor he deserves. ⁹ 

Psalms 115:12-13

115:12 The Lord takes notice of us, ¹⁰  he will bless ¹¹  –

he will bless the family ¹²  of Israel,

he will bless the family of Aaron.

115:13 He will bless his loyal followers, ¹³ 

both young and old. ¹⁴ 

[4:10]  ¹ tn On the use of אִם (’im, “if”) here, see HALOT 60 s.v.

[4:10]  ² tn Heb “and act from [i.e., so as to prevent] harm so that I might not be in pain.”

[4:10]  ³ tn Heb “and God brought about what he had asked.”

[67:1]  ⁴ sn Psalm 67. The psalmist prays for God’s blessing upon his people and urges the nations to praise him for he is the just ruler of the world.

[67:1]  ⁵ tn Or “have mercy on us.”

[67:1]  ⁶ tn The prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives expressing the psalmist’s prayer. Note the jussive form יָאֵר (ya’er) in the next line.

[67:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “may he cause his face to shine with us.”

[67:7]  ⁸ tn The prefixed verb forms in vv. 6b-7a are understood as jussives.

[67:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “will fear him.” After the jussive of the preceding line, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive is understood as indicating purpose/result. (Note how v. 3 anticipates the universal impact of God showing his people blessing.) Another option is to take the verb as a jussive and translate, “Let all the ends of the earth fear him.”

[115:12]  ¹⁰ tn Or “remembers us.”

[115:12]  ¹¹ tn Another option is to translate the prefixed form of the verb “bless” in vv. 12-13 as a jussive, “may he bless” (see v. 14).

[115:12]  ¹² tn Heb “house.”

[115:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “the fearers of the Lord.”

[115:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the small along with the great.” The translation assumes that “small” and “great” here refer to age (see 2 Chr 15:13). Another option is to translate “both the insignificant and the prominent” (see Job 3:19; cf. NEB “high and low alike”).