This may all sound very radical, but the Word of God clearly addresses the issue of health. And that is why I have prepared this study. Yes, there are countless doctors and nurses around the world who have noble intentions toward their fellowman, and they give excellent care, without which some people, including myself, would not be alive today. But is it God’s perfect will for us?
Although this study is rather large, I urge you to read it from beginning to end. You will learn what the Bible actually says about doctors. Many of the references speak of the “health” of nations. Especially, toward the end, the verses from the book of Revelation are some of the most revealing. Pay close attention to the Greek word meanings.
It is not my intent to draw conclusions, but to raise questions as to where we have put our trust.
May God bless you as you read this study of the words related to health and healing.
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1. Hebrew #7495
ra^pha^' ra^pha^h (raw-faw', raw-faw')
Definition: "A primitive root; properly to mend (by stitching), that is, (figuratively) to cure"
Translated: "cure, (cause to) heal, make whole, physician, repair"
See Hebrew #7503 ra^pha^h (raw-faw'), which means: "A primitive root; to slacken (in many applications, literally or figuratively)"
2. Hebrew #724
'a?ru^ka^h 'a?ru^ka^h (ar-oo-kaw', ar-oo-kaw')
Definition: "Feminine passive participle of H748 (in the sense of restoring to soundness); wholeness (literally or figuratively)"
Translated: "health, made up, perfected"
3. Hebrew #4832
marpe^' (mar-pay')
Definition: "From H7495; properly curative, that is, literally (concretely) a medicine, or (abstractly) a cure; figuratively (concretely) deliverance, or (abstractly) placidity"
Translated: "([in-]) cure (-able), healing (-lth), remedy, sound, wholesome, yielding"
1. Greek #2323
therapeuo¯ (ther-ap-yoo'-o)
Definition: "to wait upon menially, that is, (figuratively) to adore (God), or (specifically) to relieve (of disease)"
Translated: "cure, heal, worship"
2. Greek #2322
therapeia (ther-ap-i'-ah)
Definition: "From G2323; attendance (specifically medical, that is, cure); figuratively and collectively domestics"
Translated: "healing, household"
3. Greek #2395
iatros (ee-at-ros')
Definition: "From G2390; a physician"
Translated: "physician"
4. Greek #2390
iaomai (ee-ah'-om-ahee)
Definition: "Middle voice of apparently a primary verb; to cure (literally or figuratively)"
Translated: "heal, make whole"
5. Greek #4982
so¯zo¯ (sode'-zo)
Definition: "to save, that is, deliver or protect (literally or figuratively)"
Translated: "heal, preserve, save (self), do well, be (make) whole"
6. Greek #5199
hugie¯s (hoog-ee-ace')
Definition: "healthy, that is, well (in body); figuratively true (in doctrine)"
Translated: "sound, whole"
7. Greek #3547
nomodidaskalos (nom-od-id-as'-kal-os)
Definition: "From G3551 and G1320; an expounder of the (Jewish) law, that is, a Rabbi"
Translated: "doctor (teacher) of the law"
8. Greek #1320
didaskalos (did-as'-kal-os)
Definition: "an instructor (generally or specifically)"
Translated: "doctor, master, teacher"
9. Greek #5332
pharmakeus (far-mak-yoos')
Definition: "From pharmakon (a drug, that is, spell giving potion); a druggist ("pharmacist") or poisoner, that is, (by extension) a magician"
Translated: "sorcerer"
10. Greek #5331
pharmakeia (far-mak-i'-ah)
Definition: "From Greek #5332; medication ("pharmacy"), that is, (by extension) magic (literal or figurative)"
Translated: "sorcery, witchcraft"
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1. Hebrew #7495
ra^pha^' ra^pha^h (raw-faw', raw-faw')
Definition: "A primitive root; properly to mend (by stitching), that is, (figuratively) to cure"
Translated: "cure, (cause to) heal, make whole, physician, repair"
See Hebrew #7503 ra^pha^h (raw-faw'), which means: "A primitive root; to slacken (in many applications, literally or figuratively)"
- cure
Jeremiah 33:6: "Behold, I will bring it health [Hebrew #724] and cure [Hebrew #4832], and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth."
- heal
Numbers 12:13: "And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, Heal her [Miriam] now, O God, I beseech you."
Deuteronomy 32: (36-38&)39: "For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left. And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted, Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection. See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand"
2 Kings 20:5, 8: "Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father, I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears: behold, I will heal you: on the third day you shall go up unto the house of the LORD. . . . And Hezekiah said unto Isaiah, What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up into the house of the LORD the third day?"
2 Chronicles 7:14: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
Psalm 6:2: "Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed."
Psalm 41:4: "I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against you."
Ecclesiastes 3: (1-2&)3: "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;"
Isaiah 19:22: "And the LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the LORD, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them."
Isaiah 57:18-19: "I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, says the LORD; and I will heal him."
Jeremiah 3:22: "Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto you; for you are the LORD our God."
Jeremiah 17:14: "Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for you are my praise."
Jeremiah 30:17: "For I will restore health [Hebrew #724] unto you, and I will heal you of your wounds, says the LORD; because they called you an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeks after."
Hosea 5:13: "When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound."
Hosea 6:1: "O Israel, return unto the LORD your God; for you have fallen by your iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips. Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, You are our gods: for in you the fatherless finds mercy. I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for my anger is turned away from him."
Zechariah 11:16: "For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that stands still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces."
- healed
Genesis 20:17: "So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children."
Exodus 21:19: "If he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed."
Leviticus 13:18, 37: "The flesh also, in which, even in the skin thereof, was a boil, and is healed, . . . But if the scall be in his sight at a stay, and that there is black hair grown up therein; the scall is healed, he is clean: and the priest shall pronounce him clean."
Leviticus 14:3, 48: "And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper; . . . And if the priest shall come in, and look upon it, and, behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house was plaistered: then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed." (The above two quotes are from the law regarding leprosy.)
Deuteronomy 28:27, 35: "The LORD will smite you with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof you cannot be healed. . . . The LORD shall smite you in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot unto the top of your head"
1 Samuel 6:3: "And they said, If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but in any wise return him a trespass offering: then you shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you."
2 Kings 2:21-22: "And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus says the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land. So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake."
2 Kings 8:29: "And king Joram went back to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick."
2 Kings 9:15: "But king Joram was returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) And Jehu said, If it be your minds, then let none go forth nor escape out of the city to go to tell it in Jezreel."
2 Chronicles 22:6: "And he returned to be healed in Jezreel because of the wounds which were given him at Ramah, when he fought with Hazael king of Syria. And Azariah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab at Jezreel, because he was sick."
2 Chronicles 30:20: "And the LORD hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people."
Psalm 30:2: "O LORD my God, I cried unto you, and you have healed me."
Psalm 107:20: "He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions."
Isaiah 6:10: "Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed."
Isaiah 53:5: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
Jeremiah 6:14: "They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace."
Jeremiah 8:11: "For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace."
Jeremiah 15:18: "Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?"
Jeremiah 51: (6-7&)8-9: "Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD'S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence. Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD'S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reaches unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies."
Ezekiel 34:4: "The diseased have you not strengthened, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought again that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have you ruled them."
Ezekiel 47:8-9, 11: "Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. And it shall come to pass, that every thing that lives, which moves, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. . . . But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt."
Hosea 7:1: "When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers spoils without."
Hosea 11:3: "I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them."
- heals
Exodus 15:26: "And said, If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD your God, and will do that which is right in his sight, and will give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon you, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that heals you."
Psalm 147:3: "He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds."
Isaiah 30:26: "Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD binds up the breach of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound."
- physician
Jeremiah 8:22: "Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health [Hebrew #724] of the daughter of my people recovered?"
- The word "physicians" was first used in the following verse in Genesis. Was the role of physicians intended to be only as embalmers? Considering the limited use in the verses below, it would seem that the Lord God did not approve of their being what they have become today. When reading all the previous passages in this study, we don't find one instance where a "physician" played any part in healing, or mending.
Genesis 50:2: "And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel."
2 Chronicles 16:12: "And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians."
Job 13:4: "But you are forgers of lies, you are all physicians of no value."
- repaired
1 Kings 18:30: "And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down."
- whole
Job 5:18: "For he [God] makes sore, and binds up: he wounds, and his hands make whole."
Jeremiah 19:11: "And shall say unto them, Thus says the LORD of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there is no place to bury."
2. Hebrew #724
'a?ru^ka^h 'a?ru^ka^h (ar-oo-kaw', ar-oo-kaw')
Definition: "Feminine passive participle of H748 (in the sense of restoring to soundness); wholeness (literally or figuratively)"
Translated: "health, made up, perfected"
- health
Isaiah 58: (4-7&)8: "Behold, you fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: you shall not fast as you do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to your house? when you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you hide not yourself from your own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and your health shall spring forth speedily: and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rereward."
Jeremiah 8:22: "Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?"
Jeremiah 30: (16&)17: "Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil you shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon you will I give for a prey. For I will restore health unto you, and I will heal [Hebrew #7495] you of your wounds, says the LORD; because they called you an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeks after."
Jeremiah 33:6(&7-8): "Behold, I will bring it health and cure [Hebrew #4832], and I will cure [Hebrew #7495] them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth. And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first. And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me."
- perfected
2 Chronicles 24:13: "So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in his state, and strengthened it."
3. Hebrew #4832
marpe^' (mar-pay')
Definition: "From H7495; properly curative, that is, literally (concretely) a medicine, or (abstractly) a cure; figuratively (concretely) deliverance, or (abstractly) placidity"
Translated: "([in-]) cure (-able), healing (-lth), remedy, sound, wholesome, yielding"
- cure
Jeremiah 33:6: "Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth. And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first."
- health
Proverbs 4: (20-21&)22(&23): "My son, attend to my words; incline your ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life"
Proverbs 12:18(&19): "There is that speaks like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health. The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment."
Proverbs 13:17: "A wicked messenger falls into mischief: but a faithful ambassador is health."
Proverbs 16: (23&)24(&25): "The heart of the wise teaches his mouth, and adds learning to his lips. Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."
Jeremiah 8:15: "We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!"
- healing
Jeremiah 14:19: "Have you utterly rejected Judah? has your soul lothed Zion? why have you smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!"
Malachi 4:2: "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and you shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall"
- incurable
2 Chronicles 21:18: "And after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease."
- remedy
2 Chronicles 36:16: "But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy."
Proverbs 6: (12-14&)15(&16-19): "A naughty person, a wicked man, walks with a froward mouth. He winks with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teaches with his fingers; frowardness is in his heart, he devises mischief continually; he sows discord. Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy. These six things does the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaks lies, and he that sows discord among brethren."
Proverbs 29:1: "He, that being often reproved hardens his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy."
- sound
Proverbs 14:30(&31): "A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones. He that oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker: but he that honours him has mercy on the poor."
- wholesome
Proverbs 15: (3&)4: "The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit."
- yielding
Ecclesiastes 10:4: "If the spirit of the ruler rise up against you, leave not your place; for yielding pacifies great offences."
Click "older post" (below) for part two.
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