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Bible verses for healing and sickness

Psalm 103:2-3 is where most people start: bless the LORD, my soul, who forgives all your sins, who heals all your diseases. James 5:14-15 is the passage about calling for the elders and praying over the sick. Both are below in full. So is the harder passage — 2 Corinthians 12:9 — where Paul asks three times for something to be taken away, and it isn't.

13 passages · World English Bible & King James · public domain

  1. Is any amongst you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.James 5:14-15 · World English Bible

    The practical instruction, and notice it's communal: the elders come to the sick person. Nothing is being asked of the patient.

    King James

    Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

  2. For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds,” says the LORD, “because they have called you an outcast, saying, ‘It is Zion, whom no man seeks after.’”Jeremiah 30:17 · World English Bible

    I will restore health to you — said to a nation in ruins, which is the register this verse belongs in.

    King James

    For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.

  3. Praise the LORD, my soul, and don’t forget all his benefits, who forgives all your sins, who heals all your diseases,Psalms 103:2-3 · World English Bible

    Forgiveness and healing named in one breath, as two halves of the same mercy.

    King James

    Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;

  4. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.Isaiah 53:5 · World English Bible

    By his wounds we are healed. Read in context it's about a suffering servant bearing something on behalf of others.

    King James

    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.

  5. He said, “If you will diligently listen to the LORD your God’s voice, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I am the LORD who heals you.”Exodus 15:26 · World English Bible

    I am the LORD who heals you — spoken at a spring of bitter water made drinkable, three days into a desert.

    King James

    And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.

  6. The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed, and restore him from his bed of illness.Psalms 41:3 · World English Bible

    Sustained on the sickbed. Being held through it rather than lifted out — the verse that wears best in chronic illness.

    King James

    The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.

  7. Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be healthy, even as your soul prospers.3 John 1:2 · World English Bible

    A greeting in a personal letter, wishing a friend health. Ordinary, warm, and not a formula.

    King James

    Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

  8. LORD my God, I cried to you, and you have healed me.Psalms 30:2 · World English Bible

    I cried to you and you healed me. A testimony after the fact, which is a different thing from a guarantee before it.

    King James

    O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.

  9. Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed. Save me, and I will be saved; for you are my praise.Jeremiah 17:14 · World English Bible

    Heal me and I will be healed. A prayer, not a claim — the difference matters on a hard day.

    King James

    Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.

  10. A cheerful heart makes good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.Proverbs 17:22 · World English Bible

    A cheerful heart as good medicine. An observation about bodies, not an instruction to perform cheerfulness.

    King James

    A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

  11. He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.2 Corinthians 12:9 · World English Bible

    Paul asked three times and was told no. Included deliberately, because leaving it out would be dishonest.

    King James

    And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

  12. Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness amongst the people.Matthew 4:23 · World English Bible

    Jesus healing every disease and sickness among the people. The plain record of what he did with his time.

    King James

    And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

  13. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be cured of your disease.”Mark 5:34 · World English Bible

    Your faith has made you well — said to a woman who was already better, about something already done. The verb under it is the one the King James renders ‘made thee whole’.

    King James

    And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.

Read honestly

This page is likely to be read by someone who is ill, or sitting beside someone who is. So it's worth saying plainly: Scripture contains real promises of healing, and it also contains faithful people who were not healed. The New Testament reports both without embarrassment, and names names. All four passages below are quoted in full from the World English Bible.

Paul asked three times

Concerning this thing, I begged the Lord three times that it might depart from me. He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.2 Corinthians 12:8-9 · World English Bible

The answer is not the removal of the thing. It is grace inside it, which is a harder and more durable promise than the one people usually go looking for.

Timothy was told to take something for it

Be no longer a drinker of water only, but use a little wine for your stomach’s sake and your frequent infirmities.1 Timothy 5:23 · World English Bible

A recurring complaint, and the advice is practical rather than miraculous. Nobody suggests his faith is the problem.

Trophimus was left behind sick

Erastus remained at Corinth, but I left Trophimus at Miletus sick.2 Timothy 4:20 · World English Bible

One line, no explanation offered. A companion of Paul, too ill to travel on.

And Epaphroditus recovered

But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, and your apostle and servant of my need, since he longed for you all, and was very troubled because you had heard that he was sick. For indeed he was sick nearly to death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow on sorrow.Philippians 2:25-27 · World English Bible

Included because leaving it out would be its own kind of dishonesty. Sometimes people get better, and the text says so plainly.

What these passages do not promise

Read together they rule some things out, and it is worth being exact about which:

  • They do not promise recovery on a timetable. Psalm 30:2 is a testimony after the fact. That is a different kind of statement from a guarantee made in advance.
  • They do not make healing conditional on how well you believe. Paul believed about as hard as anyone in the book and was told no three times.
  • They do not treat medicine as a failure of faith. Timothy is advised to take something. The instruction in James 5 is to call people and be anointed, not to stop treatment.
  • They do not ask the sick person to generate anything. In James 5 the elders come to the patient. The movement is towards the ill person, not out of them.

So: if you are not healed, that is not a verdict on your faith. Anyone who tells you otherwise is adding something to the text that is not in it, and doing real harm with it.

For praying over someone

James 5:14-15 is the practical instruction — call the elders, pray, anoint with oil. Notice it is a communal act, not a solo effort of belief. The sick person is not being asked to generate anything; other people come to them.

One Greek verb, four English words

Here is something you can check on this page rather than take our word for. Open the King James toggle under James 5:14-15 and read the middle clause. The modern rendering has the prayer of faith heal him who is sick. The King James has it save the sick.

One Greek verb sits under both: sozo, printed there as σώσει — Strong’s 4982, a word the King James renders elsewhere as save, heal, preserve and make whole. It is the ordinary New Testament word for rescuing somebody and the ordinary word for somebody getting better. English has no single word that does both jobs, so a translator has to pick one, and ours picked differently.

Now do the same under Mark 5:34, the last passage below. The verb is σέσωκέν, the same word in the perfect tense. The King James has thy faith hath made thee whole; the modern rendering has your faith has made you well.

So: one verb, and four English words for it on one page — heal, save, whole, well. Commentators do argue about which sense is uppermost in James 5:15, and the argument is set out at BibleHub: Meyer reads σώσει as “will recover” because the sentence is about a sick man and pairs it with being raised up, and the Cambridge Bible takes the same line. We are not settling it, and the useful part does not depend on settling it: when this verse is handed to you as a guarantee about a body, the verb inside it is doing at least two jobs, and the English in front of you has already chosen one of them.

And on Mark 5:34, since it is the verse people get handed when their faith is the thing in question — it is said to a woman who is already well, about something already done. Like Psalm 30:2 above, it is a sentence spoken afterwards. Not a rule offered to anybody in advance, and not a measurement anyone else is invited to take of you.

For the long haul

Psalm 41:3 — the LORD sustains him on his sickbed — is about being held through an illness rather than lifted out of it. For chronic illness, that verse tends to wear better than the dramatic ones. Proverbs 17:22 is the one about a cheerful heart being good medicine, and it is worth reading gently: it's an observation about the body and the spirit, not an instruction to perform cheerfulness for other people.

If you are reading this in a hospital

Something practical, because a fair number of people find a page like this at two in the morning on a ward. You can ask for a chaplain, and you do not have to be religious to do it.

In the UK, NHS chaplaincy is part of the service and free at the point of use. NHS England's chaplaincy guidance sets it out as pastoral, spiritual and religious care for people of all faiths, beliefs and none — and patients, families and carers can refer themselves. Nobody has to arrange it for you, and a chaplain is not there to push anything at you.

In the US the picture is patchier but the service is common: about 70% of hospitals surveyed in 2015 provided pastoral care, and hospital chaplains are trained to work with people of any faith or none. Ask a nurse; they will know whether your hospital has one.

And for the medical side rather than this one, the US National Library of Medicine's MedlinePlus is written for patients rather than clinicians and is not trying to sell you anything, which is more than can be said for most of what a worried search turns up.

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For the morning of the results

The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed, and restore him from his bed of illness.

Psalm 41:3

Three months of waiting. This one is about being held through it, not lifted out.

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Questions

What is the best Bible verse for healing?

Psalm 103:2-3 — bless the LORD, my soul, who forgives all your sins, who heals all your diseases — is the most quoted. James 5:14-15 gives the practical instruction to call the elders of the church to pray over the sick. Psalm 41:3, about being sustained on a sickbed, suits long-term illness better.

Does the Bible promise that everyone will be healed?

No. Paul asked three times for an affliction to be removed and was told 'my grace is sufficient for you' (2 Corinthians 12:9). Timothy had a recurring ailment (1 Timothy 5:23) and Trophimus was left behind sick (2 Timothy 4:20). Not being healed is not presented as a failure of faith.

What Bible verse do you pray over someone who is sick?

James 5:14-15 is the passage that describes the practice itself. Psalm 103:2-3, Jeremiah 17:14 and Psalm 41:3 are commonly prayed aloud at a bedside.

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