Baruch Dayan HaEmet: The Jewish Blessing Upon Hearing Bad News

When Jewish people hear bad news, especially news of a death, they say a short blessing: Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam, dayan ha-emet, "Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the universe, the Judge of Truth." Most people simply say the last three words, Baruch Dayan HaEmet, "Blessed is the true Judge." It is not a blessing on the bad thing itself. It is a way of saying, in the worst moment, that God is still God and still just.

Where this blessing comes from

The teaching is found in the Mishnah, tractate Berakhot, chapter 9, and discussed in the Talmud at Berakhot 54a. The rabbis list blessings for many moments of life: seeing lightning, seeing the sea, building a new house. Then they add a hard sentence. A person is obligated to bless God for the bad that comes to him just as he blesses God for the good.

They ground that rule in a verse every Jewish child knows, Deuteronomy 6:5: "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might." The Talmud explains each phrase this way:

"‘With all your heart’ means with your two inclinations, with your good inclination and your evil inclination, both of which must be subjugated to the love of God. ‘With all your soul’ means even if God takes your soul. ‘And with all your might’ means with all your money, as money is referred to in the Bible as might. Alternatively, it may be explained that ‘with all your might’ means with every measure that He metes out to you; whether it is good or troublesome, thank Him."

That last line is the heart of it. Loving God with all your might includes loving Him in whatever measure He gives you, the sweet and the bitter. (If the Shema is new to you, our page on the Shema walks through the whole passage.)

When it is said

The blessing is said at the moment bad news arrives. In Jewish practice today it is most closely tied to death. When someone hears that a person has died, they say Baruch Dayan HaEmet, and you will often see those words written in messages of condolence. Close family members say the full blessing at the funeral, traditionally when they tear their garment as a sign of mourning.

There is a matching blessing for good news, which answers the searcher looking for a Jewish prayer for good news. For good tidings that benefit you and others, the rabbis taught a blessing praising God as the One "who is good and does good" (ha-tov ve-ha-metiv). Good news and bad news both receive a blessing. Neither is left outside of God’s hands.

The prayer text

Hebrew

ברוך אתה ה’ אלוהינו מלך העולם, דיין האמת.

Transliteration

Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam, dayan ha-emet.

English

Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the universe, the Judge of Truth.

What the words are saying

"Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the universe." This is the standard opening of Jewish blessings, the same words said over bread, over wine, over a rainbow. Using the same opening in grief is deliberate. The God we thanked at the Sabbath table is the same God we speak to at the graveside.

"The Judge of Truth." The Hebrew dayan means a judge, one who rules in a case. Emet is truth, faithfulness, what is solid and reliable. To call God Dayan HaEmet is to echo Abraham's question in Genesis 18:25, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" and Moses' song in Deuteronomy 32:4, "A God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he."

Notice what the blessing does not say. It does not say "this is good," or "I understand," or "I am not hurting." It says only that the Judge is true. That leaves room for tears, for questions, even for confusion, while refusing to let go of trust.

People sometimes call this the "bad blessing" or search for the words "who gives and takes away." Those words are not part of the blessing itself, but they belong right beside it. They come from Job 1:21, spoken after Job lost his children and everything he owned:

"The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised."

Job's sentence is the spirit of Baruch Dayan HaEmet in narrative form.

The first-century world of Yeshua

We should be honest about dates. The Mishnah was put in writing around 200 AD, and the Talmud's discussion is later still. We cannot prove that this exact formula was spoken in Galilee in Yeshua's day. What we can say is that the conviction behind it is much older than the Mishnah. It is in Job, in the Psalms ("I will bless the Lord at all times," Psalm 34:1), and in the Torah verse the rabbis built it on.

That Torah verse matters for disciples of Yeshua. When He was asked which commandment was greatest, He answered with Deuteronomy 6:5 (Mark 12:29-30; Matthew 22:37). The same verse the rabbis later read as "thank Him in every measure" was, for Rabbi Yeshua, the summit of the Law. He lived out this complete devotion in His own moments of deep sorrow.

Yeshua also showed what it looks like to trust the true Judge while grieving. At the tomb of Lazarus, He wept (John 11:35). He did not tell Mary and Martha that their tears were a lack of faith. He joined them in their sorrow, even knowing He was about to raise their brother. Later, in Gethsemane, with sweat like drops of blood, He prayed, "not my will, but yours, be done" (Luke 22:42). Trust and anguish in the same breath. That is exactly the space this blessing holds open for us today.

The apostles carried the same instinct into the early congregations. Paul and Silas, beaten and locked in stocks, prayed and sang hymns at midnight (Acts 16:25). Paul told the believers in Thessalonica to "give thanks in all circumstances" (1 Thessalonians 5:18), and in the same letter he said they would grieve, just not "as others do who have no hope" (1 Thessalonians 4:13). The letter to the Hebrews calls this kind of praise a "sacrifice" (Hebrews 13:15). It costs something to bless God when your heart is broken.

For the believer, there is one more layer of hope. The Judge of Truth is also the One who raised Yeshua from the dead. Blessing Him at a graveside is not a sign of defeat or passive resignation. It is a bold statement that the final verdict has not yet been read, and because of the resurrection, we know it will be a good one.

Praying it at home and with family

You do not need to be Jewish, or to read Hebrew, to pray this blessing. The God of Israel hears the prayers of all His children. Here are some simple ways to make this practice your own:

• When the news comes. Before you call anyone, before you search for answers on your phone, say quietly, "Blessed is the true Judge." It takes three seconds. It anchors you in the truth before the panic sets in.
• In a message to someone grieving. Many Jewish friends will recognize Baruch Dayan HaEmet. For Christian friends, you might write, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be His name," and then simply say you are with them. You do not need to explain why the bad thing happened. Just point to the true Judge and offer your presence.
• With children. When a pet dies or a grandparent is in the hospital, children watch how adults respond. Saying a blessing together teaches them that God is near in hard things, not only in happy ones. It gives them a vocabulary for their own grief as they grow.
• Alongside other prayers. When someone is ill, Jewish tradition prays the Mi Shebeirach for healing. When rescue comes, there is Birkat Hagomel. Dayan HaEmet belongs to the same family of prayers. They provide honest words for each turn of life, ensuring we never have to face a crisis without knowing how to speak to God.

If you find that you cannot say it yet, that is not a failure of faith. Job argued with God for thirty-some chapters after his first blessing. The Psalms are full of raw lament (try Psalm 13, which begins "How long, O Lord?" and ends in trust). For the seasons when God feels silent, our teaching on Hester Panim: When God Hides His Face may help you find your footing.

Here is one way to pray it this week, whether or not bad news has come. Read Job 1:13-22 slowly. Then say the blessing aloud, in Hebrew or English. Ask yourself which line is hardest for you to mean, and bring that line to God first.

Questions people ask

What does Baruch Dayan HaEmet mean?

Baruch Dayan HaEmet (ברוך דיין האמת) means "Blessed is the true Judge" or "Blessed is the Judge of Truth." It is the short form of a Jewish blessing said on hearing bad news, especially news of a death. It affirms that God is just and faithful even when we do not understand what has happened.

Is "Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who gives and takes away" a real Jewish blessing?

The traditional Jewish blessing for bad news ends with "the Judge of Truth," not "who gives and takes away." The phrase about giving and taking away comes from Job 1:21: "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." The two are closely related in spirit, and many people say both.

What is the Jewish blessing for good news?

For good news that benefits you and others, Jewish tradition blesses God as the One "who is good and does good" (ha-tov ve-ha-metiv). The same section of the Mishnah that gives the blessing for bad news gives this one for good news. The idea is that every kind of news is received with a blessing.

Why is it sometimes called the "bad blessing"?

People call it that because it is the blessing said when something bad happens. It is not a blessing on the bad event itself. It praises God as the true Judge, following the Talmud's teaching that we bless God for the bad just as we bless Him for the good.

Is there a Jewish blessing for good luck?

Jewish prayer does not bless luck. It blesses God, who is seen as the giver of both good and hard things. The common phrase "mazal tov" is used as congratulations after good news, while blessings like the one for good news and the Shehecheyanu thank God directly.