The Blessing

“The Blessing” takes the priestly benediction of Numbers 6 and sings it over a room: “The Lord bless you and keep you / Make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you / The Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.” A run of “Amen” follows each pass, so the congregation answers what it has just been told.

The middle of the song expands the old text with newer lines. “May His favor be upon you / And a thousand generations / And your family and your children” sets the blessing on a household and its descendants. The next section is about nearness, with presence “before you and behind you and beside you / All around you and within you.” Then it gets specific about when: “In the morning, in the evening / In your coming and your going / In your weeping and rejoicing,” closing on the repeated “He is for you.”

Numbers 6:24-26 is the original blessing, and the thousand generations come from Deuteronomy 7:9, which says God keeps his covenant that long. The presence on every side is close to Psalm 139:5, “You hem me in behind and before.”