Bible Verses About Healing
Introduction
After more than thirty years as a pastor, I know that people come to the Bible's healing verses from very different places. Some are sitting in a hospital waiting room right now. Some are praying for a parent, a spouse, or a child. And some prayed hard for healing that never came, and they're wondering whether they did something wrong.
This page is for all three. The Bible is honest about healing. God heals, really and truly. Jesus healed everywhere he went. And the same New Testament tells us Paul begged God three times to remove his "thorn in the flesh," and God said no. Both are true, and we need both.
Pastor's Heads Up. As I update this article (October 7, 2026), my knee is elevated, having completed PRP therapy on my knee last week. It’s an injury that’s plagued me for decades. I’ve prayed and wanted it to go away, especially over the last 5 years. What will come of this? I don’t know, but I pray, seek help, and try my best to not make it worse.
Sometimes healing comes through prayer, sometimes through medicine, sometimes through counseling or another form of care. Sometimes the result is short of what we ideally want, and we are left to process the pain and disappointment. I hope that this article and these verses will build you up, encourage you, and allow you to sense the presence of God in whatever circumstance you are facing. - Jason
Start where you are:
Praying for Your Own Healing
If you're sick, you have every permission to ask God to heal you, plainly and repeatedly. These verses give you words.
Jeremiah 17:14
"Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved; for you are my praise."
The prophet doesn't hedge. He asks, and he names the only One who can do it.
Exodus 15:26
"For I am the LORD who heals you."
One of God's earliest names for himself is Yahweh Rapha, the Lord who heals. Healing isn't something God does reluctantly. It's part of who he is. See Yahweh Rapha: The Lord Who Heals.
Psalm 103:2-3
"Bless the LORD, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits: who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases."
Forgiveness and healing sit side by side. God cares about your body as much as your soul.
Psalm 41:3
"The LORD sustains them on their sickbed; in their illness you heal all their infirmities."
Before the healing comes, there's sustaining. God is with you in the bed, not just at the recovery.
Psalm 30:2
"O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me."
A testimony to hold onto. People have cried out, and God has answered.
For prayers to pray in your own words, see Prayers of Healing in the Bible.
Praying for Someone You Love
Some of the most moving healing stories in the Gospels aren't about the sick person's faith at all. They're about the faith of someone who loved them.
Mark 2:5
"When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven.'"
Four friends carried a paralyzed man to Jesus, and when they couldn't get through the crowd, they dug through the roof. Jesus saw their faith. Your prayers for someone else matter. See the Gospel of Mark.
Matthew 8:8
"Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed."
A Roman centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant from a distance, and Jesus marveled at his faith. See the Gospel of Matthew.
John 4:49-50
A royal official begged Jesus to come before his son died. Jesus told him, "Go; your son will live," and the man believed and started home. See The Nobleman's Son: Faith and Healing in John 4:46-54.
James 5:14-15
"Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven."
Healing prayer in the New Testament is something the church does together. If someone you love is sick, call your pastor. That is exactly what we're there for. Notice too that James' word for "save," sozo, means both healing and salvation. God cares for the whole person.
For your family, try this Night Prayer for Families Facing Hardship.
What Jesus' Healings Show Us
Jesus healed so often that the Gospels summarize it: "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people" (Matthew 4:23). His healings tell us three things about God.
God's kingdom includes our bodies. In his first sermon at Nazareth, Jesus read from Isaiah: "He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free" (Luke 4:18). Healing wasn't a side project. It was part of the good news. See Jesus Begins His Ministry in Nazareth: Luke 4:14-30.
God notices the overlooked. A woman bent over for eighteen years sat unnoticed in a synagogue. "When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, 'Woman, you are set free from your ailment.' When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God" (Luke 13:12-13). See Jesus Heals a Crippled Woman: Luke 13:10-17.
God heals the whole person. To the woman who touched his cloak, Jesus said, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease" (Mark 5:34). She received more than a cure. She received a name, peace, and a place back in the community.
For a complete list, see The Healing Miracles of Jesus.
When Healing Doesn't Come
This is the part of the conversation many churches avoid. I don't want to avoid it, because I've sat with too many families who needed it.
The New Testament itself tells us healing doesn't always come in this life, even for the most faithful people:
Paul. "Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness'" (2 Corinthians 12:8-9).
Epaphroditus, Paul's coworker: "He was indeed so ill that he nearly died" (Philippians 2:27).
Trophimus: "Trophimus I left ill in Miletus" (2 Timothy 4:20). Paul, who had seen God heal, simply had to leave his friend behind sick.
None of these men lacked faith. Their stories are in Scripture so that we won't draw the wrong conclusion when our own prayers aren't answered the way we hoped.
Psalm 22:24
"For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him."
If healing hasn't come, it doesn't mean God turned away. He heard. He is near.
Romans 8:18
"I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us."
Paul doesn't minimize suffering. He weighs it against something even greater.
A word of caution. Some teachers say that if you aren't healed, you didn't have enough faith, or there must be hidden sin. That teaching has wounded people at their most vulnerable, and it isn't biblical. When the disciples asked whose sin caused a man's blindness, Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned" (John 9:3). If someone has told you your illness is your fault, please hear me as a pastor: it is not.
If you're grieving a healing that didn't come, you may find comfort in Death and Hope in the Bible and Biblical Grief.
Faith and Medicine Are Not Rivals
Sometimes people ask me whether going to the doctor shows a lack of faith. The Bible's answer is no.
When King Hezekiah was dying, the prophet Isaiah prayed and also prescribed treatment: "Let them take a lump of figs, and apply it to the boil, so that he may recover" (Isaiah 38:21).
Paul traveled with "Luke, the beloved physician" (Colossians 4:14), the same Luke who wrote a Gospel full of healings.
Paul told Timothy to take a little wine for his frequent stomach ailments (1 Timothy 5:23).
Doctors, nurses, medicine, and surgery are among the ways God heals. Pray, and follow your doctor's advice. For more, see What Was Medicine Like in the Bible?
Healing for the Heart
Not every wound is physical. Grief, betrayal, and old hurts need healing too, and Scripture speaks to them just as tenderly.
Psalm 147:3
"He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds."
Binding a wound is careful, close work. God doesn't rush emotional healing, and you don't have to either. See Bible Verses About Healing from Past Hurts and Bible Verses About Depression.
The Healing Still to Come
Isaiah 53:5
"But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed."
1 Peter 2:24
"He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed."
"By his wounds we are healed" is one of the most-quoted healing verses, and one of the most misunderstood. Matthew connects it to Jesus' healing ministry (Matthew 8:17), and Peter connects it to the cross. Christ's suffering secures our complete healing: body, soul, and our relationship with God. But it is not a promise that every illness will disappear now. Some of that healing we receive today. All of it is guaranteed in the end.
Revelation 21:4
"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away."
Revelation 22:2
"And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations."
Every healing in this life is a preview. The final healing is coming for every body and every broken thing. That is the hope I hold onto at every graveside. See Why Revelation Is a Book of Hope, Not Hype.
A Prayer to Pray at a Bedside
If you're visiting someone who is sick and don't know what to say, you're welcome to pray this, out loud or silently, with your hand on theirs.
Lord Jesus, you healed the sick and noticed the ones no one else saw. Look with mercy on [name]. Ease the pain, guide the hands of the doctors and nurses, and bring healing to their body. Whatever comes, hold [name] close, and let them know they are not alone. Give us peace that passes understanding, and the hope of the day when every tear will be wiped away. Amen.
For more, see this Night Prayer in the Psalms, built around Psalm 23 and Psalm 91.
Common Questions About Healing in the Bible
Does God always heal when we pray? God does heal, and we should pray for healing with real hope. But the New Testament is honest that healing doesn't always come in this life, even for faithful people like Paul, Epaphroditus, and Trophimus. Not being healed is not a sign of weak faith.
What does "by his wounds we are healed" mean? Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24 teach that Christ's suffering secures our complete healing, starting with forgiveness and ending in the resurrection of the body. Some of that healing comes now; all of it is promised.
Is it wrong for a Christian to see a doctor? No. Scripture shows prayer and medicine working together, from Isaiah's poultice for Hezekiah to Luke "the beloved physician."
How do I pray for someone who is sick? Pray honestly and specifically, and invite others to pray with you. James 5:14 tells the sick to call the elders of the church. Your pastor would want to know.
Related Reading
Works Consulted
Hays, Richard B. The Moral Vision of the New Testament. HarperOne.
Wright, N. T. Surprised by Hope. HarperOne.
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version.
