ברכת כהנים‎;  "Birkat Kohanim; The Priestly Blessing"

The Priestly Blessing or Priestly Benediction, (Hebrew: ברכת כהנים‎; translit: "birkat kohanim"), also known as raising of the hands (Hebrew nesiat kapayim), or Dukhanen is a Jewish prayer recited by Kohanim during certain Jewish services. It is based on a scriptural verse: "They shall place My name upon the children of Israel, and I Myself shall bless them." It consists of the following Scriptural verses (Numbers 6:24–26) In this formula ordained by G-d - YHVH and transmitted to the priests by Moses for the blessing of Israel. Verse 27, "They shall invoke My Name on behalf of the Israelites and I will bless them," makes explicit the intent of the ordained formula: to invoke the power of the L-rd, who alone dispenses blessing. The threefold arrangement of the benediction may reflect an older incantation form; the three verses probably represent synonymous rather than climactic parallelism.

The blessing has been customarily translated "The L-rd {will} bless you and {will} keep you; the L-rd {will} make His face to shine upon you and {will} be gracious to you; the L-rd {will} lift up His countenance upon you and {will} grant you peace"

The literalness of this translation obscures the force of the Citerew and fails to convey the court imagery of the biblical idiom. In biblical idiom the king shows favor (the verb ḥanan) to his subjects by giving them audience, access to "the light of His face," whereas his disfavor is expressed by "hiding" his face from them. The third verse of the benediction presents a problem, for the king never "lifts up his face upon" his subjects as a token of favor: "to lift one's own face" means "to look up" (II Kings 9:32), and it is rather the recipient of favor whose "face is lifted up" (who is nesu panim by the one who shows favor, see II Kings 3:14; Job 42:8, 9). In the blessing, however, the idea seems to be that of raising the features in a smile, the opposite of dropping them in a frown (cf. lo appil panai ba-khem; lit. "I will not drop my face against you," Jeremiah 3:12; Genesis. 4:5–6; Job 29:24). Finally, favor is a good deal more than the mere absence of hostility; consequently not just "peace" but friendship is what shalom means here, as in Judges 4:17 and in beriti shalom (Numbers 25:12), and berit shelomi (Isaiah 54:10), both of which mean "my covenant/promise of friendship." If one further assumes that a ו (vav) has been omitted at the end of שָׁלוֹם before the ו (vav) at the beginning of וְ יָשֵׂם לְךָ שְׁלוֹמוֹ, וְשָׂמוּ will mean the exact opposite of אָסַפְתִּי אֶת שְׁלוֹמִי מֵאֵת הָעָם הַזֶּה ("I have withdrawn my friendship from that people"; Jeremiah 16:5). With this small change, the rendering of Numbers 6:24–26 in the Jewish Publication Society's translation of the Pentateuch (1962) is reproduced below in order to bring out the synonymy of the verses:

The L-rd {will} bless you and keep you!
The L-rd {will} deal kindly and graciously with you!
The L-rd {will} bestow His favor upon you and grant you His friendship!

The structure of this threefold blessing is interesting to note: the first sentence contains three words, the second five words, and the third seven words. The name of the Deity (*Tetragrammaton) is found in the second word of each sentence.
(Source-Partly: Jewish  Virtual Library)

May the L-rd (YHVH) bless you and guard you -

יְבָרֶכְךָ יהוה, וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ

("Yebhārēkh-khā Adhōnāy weyishmerēkhā ...)

May the L-rd make His face shed light upon you and be gracious unto you -

יָאֵר יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וִיחֻנֶּךָּ

("Yāʾēr Adhōnāy pānāw ēlekhā wiḥunnékkā ...) May the L-rd lift up His face unto you and give you peace -

יִשָּׂא יהוה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ, וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם ("Yissā Adhōnāy pānāw ēlekhā wiyāsēm lekhā shālōm.")

È Click on turning Music-note to receive YHVH's blessing for you!!

And Hashem spoke unto Moshe, saying, Speak unto Aharon and unto his Banim, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the Bnei Yisroel, saying unto them, Y'varekhekha Adonai v'yishmerekha (Hashem bless thee, and keep thee); Ya'er Adonai panav eleikha vichunekha (Hashem make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee); Yissa Adonai panav eleikha v'yasem l'kha shalom (Hashem lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee shalom). And they shall put My Shem upon the Bnei Yisroel, and I will bless them. (BAMIDBAR 6:23-27; The Orthodox Jewish Bible)

Speak to Aaron and his sons saying, In this way you will bless the children of Israel, Saying to them, The L-rd will bless you and He will keep you; The L-rd will make His face to shine upon you and He will be gracious to you; The L-rd will lift up His countenance to you and He will establish Shalom* for you  And they will put My name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.  (Numbers 6:23-27 One New Man Bible) (1 Chronicles 23:13).

(*Shalom mean far more than just only "peace"; click on Shalom to discover the riches of YHVH's blessing!)

One New Man Bible; Translated by: William (Bill) Morford   The One New Man Bible brings a greater understanding of and appreciation for the power given to believers for their daily walk. The Jewish Roots of Christianity come to life in The One New Man Bible. Hebrew is a very expressive language, so this translation brings out much of the power that has commonly been omitted from traditional English translations. The One New Man Bible will help the Church understand and appreciate its Jewish Roots, and finally recognize that Y’shua (Jesus) was born Jewish, that He grew up Jewish, and that He is the same today as He was then. (Hebrews 13:8) Readers will understand that the Scriptures Y’shua, and every New Testament author, embraced (irreverently called Old Testament by the Church) are alive and relevant for believers today. As a proof of G-d’s perfect plan for His perfect Word, readers will discover that Matthew flows, as if a continuous stream, out of the book of Chronicles. Only God could have done this!

Say to Aaron and his sons, This is the way you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them, The L-rd bless you and watch, guard, {and} keep you; The L-rd make His face to shine upon {and} enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you; The L-rd lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually). And they shall put My name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them.  (Numbers 6:23-27 Amplified)

‎ ברכת כהנים;  "Birkat Kohanim; The Priestly Blessing"...Explained

There is a major difference between prayer and a blessing, Although the two are related, they are not the same. The Hebrew for blessing is beracheh, a word which shares its roots with l'havrich, meaning to "join" or "to intertwine".

When a blessing is bestowed, what is accomplished is the joining of the source of blessing above with the person below. In effect nothing new happens. The blessing merely activate the exciting source of the blessing above and reveals it below. By contrast, prayer awakens a new will. When people are ill and when we pray for them, we recognize that there was a previous Divine will which brought about the illness, but we ask that now a new will should arise and bring health and revealed goodness.

Each have their merits. The blessing suggest a certain measure of guarantee, in that it unveils that which is there, albeit in concealed in potential. Prayer suggest no guarantee, but it has the power to create a new reality.

The Priestly Blessing  (Hebrew: ברכת כהנים‎; translit: "birkat kohanim"), is unusual it that it contains both of these elements. It is a traditional blessing, arousing the above to manifest below, yet is recited in the context of prayer, which gives the blessing an additional boon.

The power of the Priestly Blessing is to arouse new  create new realities and bring them forth in the hastiest of ways. The reason Priestly Blessing can do so is because it does not originate with the priest, who after all is a finite, limited man-rather, it originate with G-d, The Priestly Blessing is a mitzvah, a Divine mandate, and as such its power is infinite and unrestricted. Not encumbered by the limitation of blessing in general, the Priestly Blessing can reach above and awaken the highest and newest Divine desires so that their effect is felt immediately below.

When priest, who act as the conduits for Divine desires flow, pronounce the words of the Priestly Blessing with love, as commanded by the Torah, the Divine presence rests on them. This is an opportune time for us to sweeten and annul all negative dreams and reinforce all the positive ones. The Priestly Blessing would always be pronounced by the Kohanim (Or HaChaim) Only G-d can ensure people of success, abundance and happiness.

• The Third Blessing - May HaShem lift His countenance to you...
  
  May He suppress His anger, meaning that even you are sinful, G-d will show you special consideration and not punish you. When G-d turns His face to Israel, so to speak, He symbolized that He is not angry with us. As a result, we can lift our heads, despite of our own unworthiness.
  
  Let them place My Name upon the children of Israel and I shall bless them... HaShem {YHVH - G-d} will give might to His Nation with peace. PEACE: When you enter peace, when you leave, and peaceful relations with everyone.
• This alludes to three levels of peace:
         1. within the family
•         2. In the country where one lives
•         3. Throughout the world