Verse explainer
The oldest recorded blessing in Scripture — not a wish but a priestly declaration of God's own intention toward his people.
The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:
BSB'May the LORD bless you and keep you;
The plain meaning
Numbers 6:24 is the opening line of the Aaronic Blessing (vv. 24–26), the formula God gave Moses to instruct Aaron and his sons to pronounce over Israel. The full form runs: "The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: the LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." Two Hebrew verbs carry this first line: bless (barak) and keep (shamar). To bless in the ancient Near Eastern sense is not merely to wish well — it is an authoritative word that effects what it declares, here rooted in God's own covenant faithfulness. To keep is to guard, shelter, and watch over. This is not a private improvised prayer but a divinely prescribed liturgy: God told Aaron exactly what words to say, then added, "I will bless them" (v. 27). The blessing does not depend on the priest's merit or the people's worthiness at that moment — it is God commissioning his own name to rest on Israel.
The common misreading
What the commentators say
Henry observes that God here puts his own words into the priests' mouths so the blessing would carry divine authority and not merely human goodwill. The combination of bless and keep, he notes, covers both the conferring of good gifts and the preserving of them — grace given and grace guarded — showing that what God bestows he also undertakes to protect.
Gill connects the blessing of the first line to covenant mercies flowing from God's presence and favor, and sees the keeping as God's guarding Israel from all that would threaten those gifts — enemies, sin, and spiritual harm alike. He notes the entire three-part blessing moves from God's favor as its source down to peace as its fruit in the life of the recipient.
Barnes stresses that God's issuing the precise verbal formula, rather than leaving priests to improvise, signals the blessing is formally God's own act performed through Aaron — the priest speaks it, but the last verse (v. 27) makes clear that God himself is the one who blesses. The form was fixed so the people could hear and receive it as a word from God, not merely from the officiating priest.
The word behind it
"Keep" — to watch, guard, preserve, or protect. The same verb is used of a shepherd guarding a flock, a soldier keeping watch, and God watching over his covenant people. It implies active, attentive protection, not passive hoping. Here it answers the implicit worry: if God blesses with gifts, what prevents them being lost or taken? Shamar is the answer — the same hand that gives also guards.
Related verses
Clariverse
This explainer is from Clariverse — a calm, ad-free Bible reader. Tap any verse to get the plain meaning, the misreading people fall into, and the original word behind it.
Free to use. Clariverse Plus unlocks unlimited explainers.