The Aaronic Benediction: Text, Meaning, and How to Use It
The Aaronic benediction is the blessing of Numbers 6:24-26, given by God to Aaron and his sons as the words by which they would put his name on his people.
Where it goes in the service
At the very end of a worship service, spoken by the presiding minister with hands raised or extended over the congregation, who stand. It is also widely used at baptisms, weddings, ordinations, hospital bedsides, graveside committals, and over children at bedtime. Nothing should follow it except dismissal.
What is a aaronic benediction?
The Aaronic benediction, also called the priestly blessing or the Aaronic blessing, is three lines of Hebrew poetry recorded in Numbers 6:24-26. God tells Moses to give Aaron and his sons a specific text and to use it: "In this way you shall bless the children of Israel." It is one of the very few places in scripture where God dictates the exact wording of something the congregation is to hear.
The three lines escalate. The first asks for God to bless and to keep, which is provision and protection, the plainest possible good. The second asks for his face to shine and for grace, which is favor and delight rather than mere safety. The third asks for his face to be lifted toward you and for peace, which is presence and wholeness. Each line is longer than the one before it in Hebrew, three words, then five, then seven, so the blessing physically widens as it is spoken.
The verse that follows is the reason the church still uses it. "So they shall put my name on the children of Israel; and I will bless them." The blessing is not the priest wishing something for the people; it is God attaching his own name to them and then doing the blessing himself. The person speaking is a channel, not a source.
It is also very old in practice as well as in text. Two silver amulets found at Ketef Hinnom near Jerusalem carry a version of these lines and date to roughly the seventh century BC, which makes them among the oldest known fragments of biblical text. Congregations have been sent home with these words for something close to three thousand years.
12 the aaronic benediction you can use this Sunday
Free to copy, print, and project. Scripture is quoted from public-domain translations, so no permission is required.
The Aaronic Benediction (WEB)
All-purposeYahweh bless you, and keep you. Yahweh make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you. Yahweh lift up his face toward you, and give you peace.
— Numbers 6:24-26 (WEB)
The Aaronic Benediction (KJV)
TraditionalThe 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.
— Numbers 6:24-26 (KJV)
With the Verse That Explains It
TeachingYahweh bless you, and keep you. Yahweh make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you. Yahweh lift up his face toward you, and give you peace. So they shall put my name on the children of Israel; and I will bless them.
— Numbers 6:24-27 (WEB)
The Hebrew, Transliterated
TeachingYevarechecha Adonai v'yishmerecha. Ya'er Adonai panav elecha vichuneka. Yisa Adonai panav elecha v'yasem lecha shalom.
— Numbers 6:24-26, Hebrew transliterated
First Person Plural, for a Lay Leader
Lay-ledThe Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face shine upon us and be gracious to us. The Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us peace.
— Original, adapted from Numbers 6:24-26 (KJV)
Responsive Form
ResponsiveLeader: The Lord bless you and keep you. People: Amen. Leader: The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. People: Amen. Leader: The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. People: Amen, and amen.
— Original, with Numbers 6:24-26 (KJV)
Trinitarian Expansion
All-purposeThe Lord bless you and keep you: the Father who made you and has not forgotten you, the Son who came for you and will not lose you, the Spirit who is with you and will not leave you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.
— Original, built on Numbers 6:24-26
At a Baptism
Baptism[Name], the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. You belong to him. Nothing that happens to you after today changes that.
— Numbers 6:24-26 (KJV), with an original charge
At a Wedding
Wedding[Name] and [Name], the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace, in this room today and in the ordinary kitchen mornings where most of a marriage actually happens. Amen.
— Numbers 6:24-26 (KJV), with an original charge
At a Graveside
Funeral / GriefThe Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace: not the peace of forgetting, but the peace of being held while you remember. Amen.
— Numbers 6:24-26 (KJV), with an original charge
Over a Child at Bedtime
HouseholdThe Lord bless you and keep you tonight. The Lord make his face shine on you, and smile at you. The Lord look right at you, and give you peace. Goodnight. He is watching, and you can sleep.
— Original, adapted from Numbers 6:24-26
For a Commissioning or Sending
CommissioningGo now, and go blessed. The Lord bless you and keep you where you are going. The Lord make his face shine upon you when nobody else is watching. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace enough to stay. Amen.
— Numbers 6:24-26 (KJV), with an original charge
How to write your own
- 1Do not rewrite it. This is the one benediction where the text is given, and congregations who have heard it for decades will hear a paraphrase as a mistake. Adapt the framing around it instead.
- 2Choose one translation and stay with it. People memorize the Aaronic blessing without meaning to, and switching between "countenance" and "face" every few weeks quietly prevents that.
- 3Decide on you or us before you stand up. Ordained ministers usually pronounce it in the second person; lay leaders in many traditions shift to "bless us and keep us" so as not to claim a priestly role. Either is defensible. Deciding mid-sentence is not.
- 4Add the frame, not the text. A single original sentence before or after ("You belong to him", "Go now, and go blessed") lets you fit it to a baptism, a wedding, or a graveside without touching Numbers 6.
- 5Slow down on the third line. It is the longest, it is the one that lands, and it ends on the word peace. Most people rush it because they are already thinking about the dismissal.
- 6Raise your hands. The gesture is part of the form and it tells a congregation that something is being given to them rather than said at them.
How different traditions handle it
The Aaronic benediction is close to universal. Lutheran services use it as the appointed benediction at the end of the liturgy, usually with the sign of the cross. Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, and non-denominational churches all use it freely. In Judaism it is the Birkat Kohanim, pronounced by kohanim in the synagogue and by parents over their children on Shabbat, and Jewish practice reserves the priestly pronouncement to descendants of Aaron. Some Christian traditions distinguish between an ordained minister pronouncing "bless you" and a lay leader praying "bless us"; many free churches make no such distinction. Where a congregation includes Jewish members or guests, it is worth knowing that these words carry a specific liturgical weight for them.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Aaronic blessing?
It is the three-line blessing of Numbers 6:24-26 that God gave to Moses for Aaron and his sons to speak over Israel. It asks God to bless and keep, to shine his face and be gracious, and to lift his face and give peace. It is also called the priestly blessing or the Aaronic benediction, and it is the most widely used benediction in the Christian church.
Where is the Aaronic benediction in the Bible?
Numbers 6:24-26. The instruction to use it comes in verses 22-23, and the reason for it comes in verse 27: "So they shall put my name on the children of Israel; and I will bless them." Reading verse 27 aloud once a year is the fastest way to teach a congregation what the benediction actually is.
What does 'make his face shine upon you' mean?
It is Hebrew idiom for favor and delight. A shining face is the face of someone glad to see you, as against a face that is turned away or averted in anger. The third line intensifies it: to lift up the countenance is to look directly at a person, which in the ancient world was what a king did when he received someone rather than dismissing them. Together the two lines ask not merely for God's help but for his attention and his pleasure.
Can a layperson give the benediction?
In most Protestant churches, yes. In traditions that reserve the pronouncement of blessing to ordained ministers, a lay leader typically prays it in the first person plural instead: "The Lord bless us and keep us." That small change turns a pronouncement into a prayer and sidesteps the question entirely, which is why many churches teach it as the default for lay readers.
Why do ministers raise their hands during the benediction?
The gesture comes from Leviticus 9:22, where Aaron lifts his hands toward the people and blesses them. Practically it signals that the blessing is being extended over the congregation rather than announced to them, and it gives the room a clear visual cue that the service has ended.
Is it appropriate to use the Aaronic benediction outside a church service?
Yes. It is used at hospital bedsides, at graveside committals, over departing missionaries, at the end of a wedding, and by parents over children at bedtime. Its shape holds up in any moment where someone is being sent somewhere and you want to send them with more than good wishes.
How old is the Aaronic benediction?
The text sits in Numbers, and the oldest known physical copy is a pair of small silver scrolls found at Ketef Hinnom outside Jerusalem, dated to roughly the seventh century BC. They carry a version of these lines, which makes this blessing one of the oldest continuously spoken texts in the world.
Keep a record of what was actually said
The aaronic benediction you wrote is in your notes. The sermon that went with it usually isn't. Transcribe every service and build a searchable archive your congregation can go back to — the Church Plan is $19/month for as many sermons as you preach.
Related parts of the service
Benedictions
A benediction is the spoken blessing that sends a congregation out at the end of worship — not a closing prayer, but a pronouncement of God's favor over his people.
Closing Prayers for Church Services
A closing prayer gathers up what happened in a service and sends the congregation into the week with it.
Everything else in the service
Planning the rest of the service
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