Birkat Hagomel: A Prayer of Thanksgiving

A blessing for the one who came through

Birkat Hagomel is the Jewish blessing said by someone who has come safely through danger. In English it reads: "Blessed are You, Lord our God, ruler of the world, who rewards the undeserving with goodness, and who has rewarded me with goodness." The people listening answer with a blessing of their own, asking God to keep dealing kindly with the one He spared.

The classic occasions are recovering from a serious illness, being released from prison, crossing the sea and traveling through the desert. Later custom added others, such as giving birth and surviving an accident or other brush with death. The blessing is usually said in the synagogue at the Torah reading, often when the person is called up to the Torah, because a minyan is already gathered. In traditional communities a minyan means ten adult Jewish men, while other streams count women as well. Practice also varies on whether a woman says the blessing herself.

Where the blessing comes from

The obligation is laid out in the Babylonian Talmud, tractate Berakhot 54b. There the sages teach that four kinds of people must give thanks: those who go down to the sea, those who travel through the wilderness, one who was sick and recovered, and one who was imprisoned and set free. All four come straight out of Psalm 107. The psalm describes wanderers in the desert, prisoners in chains, the sick near death's door and sailors in a storm, and after each rescue it repeats the same call to praise (Psalm 107:8, 15, 21, 31).

The Talmud also explains why the thanks is spoken in public. It points to Psalm 107:32: "Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders." Thanksgiving for a rescue was never meant to be a private sigh of relief.

The Talmud's own wording of the blessing is short. The fuller text prayed today, with its striking word lechayavim, took shape in later rabbinic tradition.

The idea is much older than either. When the Temple stood, a grateful Israelite could bring a thanksgiving offering, the korban todah of Leviticus 7:12. Rashi, the eleventh-century commentator, connects that offering to the same four people of Psalm 107. Once the Temple was gone, words of blessing carried the thanks the altar once received.

Hebrew

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם הַגּוֹמֵל לְחַיָּבִים טוֹבוֹת, שֶׁגְּמָלַנִי כָּל טוּב

השומעים עונים:

אָמֵן. מִי שֶׁגְּמָלְךָ כָּל טוּב, הוּא יִגְמָלְךָ כָּל טוּב סֶּלָה

Transliteration

Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha'olam, hagomel lechayavim tovot, shegemalani kol tuv.

(Those listening respond:)

Amen. Mi shegemalcha kol tuv, hu yigmalcha kol tuv, selah.

Kol tuv or kol tov?

The Hebrew above is pointed kol tuv, "all goodness." Many prayer books print kol tov, "all good," and that is what you will hear in most synagogues. The meaning is nearly the same, so pray whichever your community uses.

English translation

Blessed are You, Lord our God, ruler of the world, who rewards the undeserving with goodness, and who has rewarded me with goodness.

After the recitation of this blessing, the congregation responds:

May he who rewarded you with all goodness reward you with all goodness forever.

What the words are teaching

The blessing opens the way hundreds of Jewish blessings open: Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the world. The thanks goes to a Person, the God of Israel who rules over sea and desert, hospital and prison cell. It is not thanks to luck.

Then comes the phrase that makes this blessing different from most others: hagomel lechayavim tovot. The root g-m-l means to deal out or repay. Chayavim are people who are liable, people who owe a debt. So the one praying says, in effect, "You give good things to people who owe You." Nobody stands up after a rescue and announces that he earned it. Birkat Hagomel puts humility right into the grammar.

The next phrase turns personal: shegemalani kol tuv, literally "who has dealt me all goodness." The prayer does not talk about mercy in general. It talks about mercy that reached me, in my body, on that road, during that night.

Then the congregation speaks. They say Amen, and they bless the person back: may the One who dealt you all good keep dealing you all good, selah. Gratitude becomes fellowship. One person testifies, and the whole room joins in asking God for more mercy ahead.

Yeshua, the apostles and thanks after rescue

We should be honest about dates. The Talmud was compiled in roughly the fifth and sixth centuries, long after Yeshua (Jesus) and the apostles, and the fixed wording of Birkat Hagomel is later still. No scene in the New Testament shows anyone reciting these exact words.

The pattern behind the blessing, though, was already Scripture in their day. Psalm 107 was sung and read. The todah offering was still brought at the Temple. And the synagogue reading the blessing now attaches to was part of ordinary Jewish life, as we see when Yeshua stands to read in Nazareth (Luke 4:16-21) and when Paul is invited to speak "after the reading of the law and the prophets" in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:15).

Read Luke 17:11-19 with this blessing in mind. Ten lepers are healed. One comes back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and falls at Yeshua's feet to thank Him. Yeshua asks where the other nine are. In the biblical way of thinking, a rescue is not finished until thanks returns to God.

The apostles lived through several of Psalm 107's own categories:

• Prison. Peter, freed by an angel, goes to the believers gathered at Mary's house and "declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison" (Acts 12:17).
• The sea. Paul survives storm and shipwreck (Acts 27). When believers come out to meet him on the road to Rome, he "thanked God, and took courage" (Acts 28:15).
• Mortal danger. Paul writes of being pressed beyond his strength, so that he despaired of life. God delivered him, and he wants "thanks... given by many" for it (2 Corinthians 1:8-11).

That last passage is Hagomel thinking in apostolic words: deliverance, then thanks spoken by the many. To see more of how the first believers lived inside that Jewish world, read the early believers in Yeshua and the Second Temple.

Praying it today

A Jewish believer may say Birkat Hagomel in synagogue or congregation, following the custom there. A Gentile Christian has no obligation to take on Jewish liturgy. Still, any disciple of Yeshua can learn from this blessing how to thank God with humility and in front of others.

Here is a simple way to use it at home after an illness, an accident, a birth or a hard journey:

1. Gather your family or a few believers.
2. Tell what happened briefly: what you feared, and where you saw God's hand. Don't make yourself the hero.
3. Say the blessing in Hebrew, English or both.
4. Let everyone answer together with the response. Children learn it quickly, and it teaches them to bless one another.
5. Read Psalm 107 aloud.

If you are still waiting for a rescue, other prayers fit that season. Before a trip there is the Traditional Jewish Traveler's Prayer. For someone who is still sick there is Mi Shebeirach, the prayer for the sick. For the daily mercy of a body that works, there is Asher Yatzar. Birkat Hagomel is the prayer for the other side, after God has answered.

When you finish Psalm 107, stay with its refrain: "Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!" (Psalm 107:8). Then ask yourself a plain question. Where has God dealt goodness to me when I was the one in debt, and who have I told?

Questions people ask

What is Birkat Hagomel in English?

In English the blessing reads: "Blessed are You, Lord our God, ruler of the world, who rewards the undeserving with goodness, and who has rewarded me with goodness." The congregation answers: "May he who rewarded you with all goodness reward you with all goodness forever."

What does hagomel mean?

Hagomel means "the One who deals out" or "the One who repays," from the Hebrew root g-m-l. In the blessing, God is the One who deals out good things to those who are in His debt. That is why the prayer is so humble.

When is Birkat Hagomel said?

The Talmud names four occasions: crossing the sea, traveling through the desert, recovering from serious illness and being released from prison. Later custom added childbirth and surviving an accident or other mortal danger. It is usually said in synagogue at the Torah reading, in front of a minyan.

Where can I find the Birkat Hagomel Hebrew text?

The full Hebrew text is printed above, together with the congregation's response, a transliteration and an English translation. Some prayer books read "kol tov" where this text reads "kol tuv." The meaning is nearly the same.

Can Christians pray Birkat Hagomel?

Yes. A believer in Yeshua can use it as a biblical pattern for thanking God after danger or recovery, much like the healed leper who returned to give thanks in Luke 17. Gentile Christians are not obligated to take on Jewish liturgy, but this blessing can teach a family to give thanks humbly and together.