Guide
Blessing and Curse
By Carol Bakhos
Both blessings and curses are prayers that express wishes: the former for someone’s well-being, the latter for their affliction and destruction. They are common in ancient Near Eastern culture, and they also appear often in the Hellenistic, Greco-Roman, and Byzantine worlds.
Related Primary Sources
Primary Source
Rabbinic Personal Blessings
When the sages took leave of the study hall of R. Ammi, and some say [it was] the study hall of R. Ḥanina, they would say to him the following [blessing]: May you…
Primary Source
Qumran Covenant Ceremony Blessings and Curses
And the priests shall bless all the men of the lot of God who walk perfectly in all his ways, saying: “May he bless you with all good, and preserve you from all evil! May he lighten your heart with…
Primary Source
Qumran Blessings
Words of blessi[ng]. Of the Instructor. To bless those who fear [God, do] his will, keep his commandments, remain constant in his holy co…