BLESSED

bles'-ed (barukh): Where God is referred to, this word has the sense of "praise," as in 1 Samuel 25:32, "Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel." But where man is in mind it is used in the sense of "happy" or "favored," and most frequently so in the Psalms and the Gospels, as for example, "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked" (Psalms 1:1); "Blessed art thou among women" (Luke 1:42); "Blessed are the poor in spirit" (Matthew 5:3).

See BEATITUDES .

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.