God heals; it is part of his name: “I am the LORD who heals you.” Christians differ on how he heals today. In Exodus 15:26, the Hebrew word is rapha (H7495): to heal, to cure, to make whole. It is also used for repairing what is broken.
Get DeepWordWhat the original says
Behind “who heals you” in this verse is the Hebrew word rapha (said rah-FAH).
It means to heal, to cure, to make whole. It is also used for repairing what is broken.
This form, rofe’ekha, describes someone by what they do, with ‘you’ joined to the end: word for word, ‘the one healing you’, or ‘your healer’. It is the last word of the verse, right after the name of the LORD.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘heal’ 45 times, counting its other forms, and ‘physician’ 4 times: a doctor is ‘one who heals’, as when Joseph “directed the physicians in his service” (Genesis 50:2):
Word by word
| לֹא | אָשִׂים | עָלֶיךָ | כִּי | אֲנִי | יְהוָה | רֹפְאֶךָ |
| not | I will put | on · you | for | I | The LORD | heals · you |
Original form
What this tells us
Israel has just crossed the sea. Three days into the desert they find water at Marah, but it is bitter, and “the people grumbled against Moses” (Exodus 15:24). Moses cries out, and “the LORD showed him a log. And when he cast it into the waters, they were sweetened” (Exodus 15:25). The word behind “heals” is rapha: to heal, to make whole, to repair. Here it becomes part of how God introduces himself: “For I am the LORD who heals you.” In Hebrew it reads almost like a title: the LORD, your healer. The promise comes inside a call to listen: “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God”, he will keep from them the diseases of Egypt. The very next verse brings them to Elim, “where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees” (Exodus 15:27). Healing here begins with bitter water made sweet. It is God caring for a whole people’s life, the body included, not only their souls. Whatever you think about how God heals today, this verse makes one thing plain. Healing is not a side interest of God’s. It is part of the name he gives himself.
What the original says
Behind “I will surely heal” in this verse is rapha again (said rah-FAH), the word you met in Exodus 15:26.
It is the same word: to heal, to cure, to make whole.
This form, rofe, is the same describing form, after hinneni, ‘here I am’: word for word, ‘here I am, healing you’. Hebrew uses this to say that something is about to happen.
It is used for mending things too: in the Berean it is ‘repaired’ 2 times, as when Elijah “repaired the altar of the LORD that had been torn down” (1 Kings 18:30):
Word by word
| אֶת | דִּמְעָתֶךָ | הִנְנִי | רֹפֶא | לָךְ | בַּיּוֹם | הַשְּׁלִישִׁי |
| obj | tear · your | here · I | about to heal | you | on the · day | third |
Original form
What this tells us
King Hezekiah is dying. Isaiah has told him, “Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover” (2 Kings 20:1). Hezekiah turns his face to the wall and prays, and “Hezekiah wept bitterly” (2 Kings 20:3). The word for “heal” is rapha, the word in God’s own name in Exodus 15:26. The answer comes fast: “Before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, the word of the LORD came to him” (2 Kings 20:4). God says, “I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. I will surely heal you.” He saw the tears, not only heard the words. Then comes a detail worth noticing. Isaiah tells them to “Prepare a poultice of figs”, and when it is put on the boil, “Hezekiah recovered” (2 Kings 20:7). God’s healing and a medical treatment stand in the same story. Christians differ on how God heals today: some expect it often through prayer, others mainly through medicine and ordinary means, and many look for both. This story holds prayer and treatment side by side. If you are praying for healing, you are doing what Hezekiah did. And if you are also seeing a doctor, you are doing what Isaiah told him to do.
What the original says
Behind “will be healed” in this verse is the Greek word iaomai (said ee-AH-oh-my).
It means to heal, to cure, to make well. It is the Gospels’ plain word for healing.
This form, iathēsetai, is about the future, and it is a form for something done to someone: ‘he will be healed’. The centurion expects it to happen at a word, from a distance.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘heal’ 24 times, counting its other forms, as in “He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick” (Luke 9:2):
Word by word
| εἰπὲ | λόγῳ | καὶ | ἰαθήσεται | ὁ | παῖς | μου |
| do speak | a word | and | will be healed | the | servant | of mine |
Original form
What this tells us
Jesus has just come into Capernaum when “a centurion came and pleaded with Him” (Matthew 8:5): “Lord, my servant lies at home, paralyzed and in terrible agony” (Matthew 8:6). Jesus answers at once, “I will go and heal him” (Matthew 8:7). The word for “healed” is iaomai: to heal, to cure. The centurion, a Roman officer used to giving orders, does not think Jesus needs to come at all: “But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” He explains why: “I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me” (Matthew 8:9). He knows what a word from someone in charge can do. Jesus is amazed: “I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith” (Matthew 8:10). And “his servant was healed at that very hour” (Matthew 8:13). The man asking was an outsider, and the one healed was his servant. Neither of them had any claim on Jesus except need and trust, and that was enough for him to act. This verse asks less about how strong your faith feels and more about where it points: to a word from Jesus that does not depend on distance.
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Download on the App StoreWhat the original says
Behind “has healed” in this verse is the Greek word sōzō (said SOH-zoh).
It means to save, to rescue, to keep safe, and also to heal, to make well. The same verb covers being healed and being saved.
This form, sesōken, is a form for something done with a lasting result: your faith ‘has made you well’, and you are well now. The Berean puts it “has healed”.
In the Berean Standard Bible, it is ‘save’ 87 times and ‘healed’ 14 times: one word for being saved and for being made well:
Word by word
| ἡ | πίστις | σου | σέσωκέν | σε | πορεύου | εἰς |
| the | faith | of you | has healed | you | do go | in |
Original form
What this tells us
A woman “had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. She had spent all her money on physicians, but no one was able to heal her” (Luke 8:43). In a pressing crowd she reaches out and touches the edge of Jesus’ cloak, “and immediately her bleeding stopped” (Luke 8:44). Then Jesus stops and asks, “Who touched Me?” (Luke 8:45). The word behind “has healed” is sōzō, which also means to save, to rescue, to keep safe. Jesus will not let her slip away healed but unseen. She comes “trembling” and tells her story in front of everyone (Luke 8:47), and he calls her “Daughter”: “your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” Healing in this story is more than a body made well. A woman who had spent twelve years and all her money on doctors is spoken to by name in front of the crowd, called daughter, and sent home in peace. Mark tells the same story with the same words: “your faith has healed you” (Mark 5:34). Christians have long noticed that the gospel writers chose a word that holds healing and saving together. Jesus wanted to see her face, not only to stop the bleeding. Whatever you bring to him, he is interested in you, not only in the problem.
What the original says
Behind “will restore” in this verse is sōzō (said SOH-zoh), the word you met in Luke 8:48.
It is the same word: to save, to heal, to make well.
This form, sōsei, is about the future: ‘it will save’, or ‘it will make well’. The prayer is what the sentence is about, but the next words say who acts: “The Lord will raise him up.”
Here the Berean puts it ‘restore’, the only time it does. A few verses later James uses it of the soul: “will save his soul from death” (James 5:20):
Word by word
| εὐχὴ | τῆς | πίστεως | σώσει | τὸν | κάμνοντα | καὶ |
| prayer | the | of faith | will save | the | ailing | and |
Original form
What this tells us
James ends his letter with ordinary church life. “Is any one of you suffering? He should pray” (James 5:13). And: “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord” (James 5:14). The word behind “will restore” is sōzō, the verb for both saving and healing. So the promise can be heard in both ways: “the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up.” James adds forgiveness in the same breath: “If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.” Notice who acts: “The Lord will raise him up.” The prayer is offered by people, but the healing belongs to God. The next verse widens it to everyone: “pray for each other so that you may be healed” (James 5:16). Christians read this passage in different ways: some practice anointing and prayer for the sick as a regular part of church life, others hear its promise mainly as being raised on the last day, and many pray for the sick and leave the outcome with God. When you are sick, you do not have to carry it alone. This verse gives you permission to ask others to pray with you, and to leave the outcome in the Lord’s hands.
What the original says
Behind “we are healed” in this verse is rapha (said rah-FAH), the word in Exodus 15:26.
It is the same word: to heal, to make whole.
This form, nirpa, is a form for something done, said here of a whole event: word for word, ‘it was healed to us’, healing has come to us. The Berean puts it “we are healed”.
It is ‘heal’ 45 times in the Berean, as in “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3):
Word by word
| מֵעֲוֹנֹתֵינוּ | מוּסַר | שְׁלוֹמֵנוּ | עָלָיו | וּבַחֲבֻרָתוֹ | נִרְפָּא | לָנוּ |
| from · iniquities · our | chastening of | peace · our | on · him | and · by · wound · his | It was healed | to · us |
Original form
What this tells us
Isaiah 53 describes a servant of the LORD who suffers for others: “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). The verse before this one says, “Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4). The word behind “we are healed” is rapha. Here healing comes at a cost to someone else: “He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities.” Word for word, the end of the verse says ‘by his wound it was healed to us’. His wound becomes our healing. The New Testament reads this chapter as being about Jesus. Matthew quotes the verse before when Jesus heals the sick: “He took on our infirmities and carried our diseases” (Matthew 8:17). Peter quotes this verse about sin: “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree”, and “By His stripes you are healed” (1 Peter 2:24). Some Christians read it as a promise of bodily healing now; others read it as healing from sin first, with the body made whole at the resurrection. Whatever is broken in you, this verse says the deepest healing has already been paid for, by someone who was wounded for you.
What the original says
Behind “the healing” in this verse is the Greek word therapeia (said theh-rah-PAY-ah).
It means healing, care, treatment. The English word ‘therapy’ comes from it.
This form, therapeian, is a noun after eis, ‘for’: the leaves are ‘for healing’. The words after it say whose: “of the nations”.
It is used only 3 times in the New Testament: ‘healing’ 2 times, and once for a master’s household of servants (Luke 12:42):
Word by word
| φύλλα | τοῦ | ξύλου | εἰς | θεραπείαν | τῶν | ἐθνῶν |
| leaves | of the | tree | for | healing | of the | nations |
Original form
What this tells us
This is the last chapter of the Bible. John sees “a river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb” (Revelation 22:1). It runs down the main street of the city, and on either side of it grows the tree of life. The word for “healing” is therapeia: healing, care, treatment. The tree bears fruit every month, “And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” Not one person, not one nation: all of them. The next verse says, “No longer will there be any curse” (Revelation 22:3). The Bible began with the tree of life in a garden (Genesis 2:9) and ends with it in a city, its leaves now medicine for the world. In the meantime, even Paul had to leave a coworker behind ill: “Trophimus I left sick in Miletus” (2 Timothy 4:20). Christians who disagree about healing now agree on this: not every illness is healed in this life, and in the end every one will be. If you have prayed and the healing has not come, this verse is for you. The last word in the Bible about sickness is not a diagnosis. It is a tree whose leaves heal.
Behind "heal" are 16 different words
Your English Bible says "heal" 146 times. Behind it stand several Hebrew and Greek words:
Reflect
Read it as yours
God gives himself this name in the desert, to tired and thirsty people. Read it slowly:
Name it
What needs healing for you, or for someone you love: a body, a mind, a memory, a relationship? Write it plainly. Hezekiah prayed and wept, and God said, “I have seen your tears” (2 Kings 20:5).
Carry with you
Who could you ask to pray with you, or offer to pray for, the way James 5:16 says: “pray for each other”?
A note
If you are ill, keep seeing your doctor. In the Bible prayer and medicine are not rivals: in 2 Kings 20 God heals Hezekiah, and Isaiah has a poultice put on the boil. Christians differ on how God heals today, and this question does not settle that.