Wedding reading
The Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:24–26)
King James Bible
“The Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:24–26)” (King James Bible) is a blessing read at weddings and funerals alike. It takes about 15 seconds read aloud, usually by the officiant. It is in the public domain, so the full text is printed on this page and goes straight into a ceremony script.
The full text
The 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.
Public domain, so these words can be printed in a ceremony script or an order of service.
Where it comes from
In Numbers 6 the Lord tells Moses to say to Aaron and his sons, “On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel”, and these three verses follow. In Hebrew it is the birkat kohanim, the Priestly Blessing still recited by the Kohanim, the descendants of Aaron.
What it says
Three lines, each beginning “The Lord”. May God bless you and keep you safe; may God’s face shine on you and be gracious to you; may God look on you with favor and give you peace. Each line builds on the one before, moving from protection to grace to peace. It asks nothing of the listener and promises nothing about the future. It is simply a blessing spoken over people.
Fifteen seconds, three thousand years old, and it closes anything. Read at weddings and funerals alike. Themes: final blessing · very short · closing a service · shared by Jews and Christians.
Who it suits
Both weddings and funerals, and families where Jewish and Christian traditions meet, since both use it. At a wedding it is a blessing on the new marriage; at a funeral it can be said over the mourners, or over the person who died. It is very short and suits officiants who want a traditional close without a long prayer. It names God three times, so it is not right for a fully secular ceremony.
Where it goes in the ceremony
At the very end: the final words before the recessional at a wedding, or the last words of a funeral before people leave or the committal party moves to the grave. The officiant says it, often with hands raised or simply looking at the room.
Reading it aloud
The text on this page is 32 words. At a ceremony pace of about 130 words a minute, which is slower than conversation, that comes to about 15 seconds of reading.
- Fifteen seconds. Do not rush; give each line its own breath and a short pause between them.
- At a wedding, look at the couple. At a funeral, look out at the family in the front rows.
- Use “thee” as written, or change it to “you” throughout if the rest of the ceremony is modern. Do not mix the two.
- Stop after “give thee peace.” Adding “Amen” is fine; adding anything else blunts the ending.
Questions about reading it aloud
How long does “The Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:24–26)” take to read aloud?
“The Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:24–26)” takes about 15 seconds read aloud at a ceremony pace, which is slower than conversation — roughly 130 words a minute. That is the figure the run-sheet uses when it works out the timing for the whole service.
Who usually reads “The Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:24–26)”?
Usually the officiant rather than a guest reader. “The Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:24–26)” runs about 15 seconds, which sits inside the part of the service the officiant is already leading, and keeping it there means it is carried by the person who has rehearsed it.
Can “The Priestly Blessing (Numbers 6:24–26)” be printed in a ceremony script?
Yes. It is in the public domain, so the full text is on this page and can be printed in a script or an order of service.
Where this text was checked
Checked word for word against a full-text edition that is itself the authority — a Project Gutenberg or Wikisource transcription, a publisher’s own edition, or the issuing body’s page.
Checked
A reading is two minutes of the hour.
The rest is the welcome, the vows, the ring exchange, the pronouncement — and the timing that holds them together. Answer some questions about the couple and get the whole ceremony, written out, with this reading in its place.
Other readings that suit the same service
- May the Road Rise Up to Meet You25 secondsA warmer, folk blessing to close on
- Deep Peace (from the Invocation of Peace)30 secondsA Celtic blessing with the same threefold peace
- Ruth 1:16–17a30 secondsAnother Hebrew Bible reading shared across traditions
- Sheva Brachot — the Seven Blessings5 minutesTraditional, Hebrew
- A Closing, with no prayer35 secondsOfficiantScript
- Apache Wedding Blessing40 secondsTraditional, widely anthologised