The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you.
- BSB may the LORD cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
- NKJV The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you;
- NASB ¶The Lord cause His face to shine on you, And be gracious to you;
- NLT May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The blessing asks that the Lord's shining face and grace rest upon His people.
Overview
God's shining face is a vivid image of His pleasure, favor, and gracious presence. To seek His face is to seek the warmth of His acceptance rather than the darkness of His displeasure. This grace is fully revealed in 'the face of Jesus Christ,' where God's glory shines (2 Cor 4:6).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 80:19Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
- Ps 119:135Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me thy statutes.
- Ps 31:16Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies’ sake.
- Ps 67:1God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah.
- Dan 9:17Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.
- Ps 80:7Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
- Exod 33:19And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.
- Mal 1:9And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the LORD of hosts.
- Gen 43:29And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son.
- John 1:17For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
- Ps 21:6For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.
- Ps 86:16O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid.
- Ps 80:1–3Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 6:25 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.