“May Jehovah make his face shine upon you, and may he favor you.” Asking God to “make his face shine upon” someone was a request for God to show his favor and approval to that person.b The phrase can also be translated: “May the LORD smile on you.” (Numbers 6:25, New International Reader’s Version) Jehovah favors his people by showing them kindness, compassion, and mercy.—Isaiah 30:18.

“May Jehovahc lift up his face toward you and grant you peace.” Jehovah ‘lifts his face’ toward his worshippers by directing his loving attention to them and by giving them peace. According to one reference work, “the Hebrew word for peace (shalom) does not refer simply to an absence of conflict, but to well-being and wholeness, both physically and spiritually.”