Medicine and physicians

Medicine and physicians appear throughout the Bible: Luke was the beloved physician, Jesus said the sick need a physician, and Isaiah prescribed a lump of figs for Hezekiah. Christian traditions differ on the place of medicine, most holding that God heals through physicians and remedies as well as in answer to prayer, while some faith-healing groups teach reliance on prayer alone, citing the Lord as healer and the rebuke of Asa for seeking physicians rather than the Lord.

Physicians

• Luke 5:31
  And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.Jesus answered, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
  Show context · Read Luke 5 →
• Colossians 4:14
  Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet you.Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas send you greetings.
  Show context · Read Colossians 4 →
• Genesis 50:2
  And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.And Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So they embalmed him,
  Show context · Read Genesis 50 →
• 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?Is there no balm in Gilead? Is no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?
  Show context · Read Jeremiah 8 →

Remedies and treatment

• Isaiah 38:21
  For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.Now Isaiah had said, “Prepare a lump of pressed figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.”
  Show context · Read Isaiah 38 →
• 1 Timothy 5:23
  Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.Stop drinking only water and use a little wine instead, because of your stomach and your frequent ailments.
  Show context · Read 1 Timothy 5 →
• Luke 10:34
  And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
  Show context · Read Luke 10 →
• Ezekiel 47:12
  And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of all kinds will grow. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. Each month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will be used for food and their leaves for healing.”
  Show context · Read Ezekiel 47 →

The Lord that healeth

• Exodus 15:26
  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.saying, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, then I will not bring on you any of the diseases I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”
  Show context · Read Exodus 15 →
• Psalm 103:2-3
  ²Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:Bless the LORD, O my soul, and do not forget all His kind deeds— ³Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;He who forgives all your iniquities and heals all your diseases,
  Show context · Read Psalm 103 →
• Jeremiah 17:14
  Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved, for You are my praise.
  Show context · Read Jeremiah 17 →
• Mark 5:25-29
  ²⁵And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,And a woman was there who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. ²⁶And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,She had borne much agony under the care of many physicians and had spent all she had, but to no avail. Instead, her condition had only grown worse. ²⁷When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.When the woman heard about Jesus, she came up through the crowd behind Him and touched His cloak. ²⁸For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.For she kept saying, “If only I touch His garments, I will be healed.” ²⁹And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.Immediately her bleeding stopped, and she sensed in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
  Show context · Read Mark 5 →

Seeking the Lord in sickness

• 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.In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady became increasingly severe. Yet even in his illness he did not seek the LORD, but only the physicians.
  Show context · Read 2 Chronicles 16 →
• James 5:14-15
  ¹⁴Is 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: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. ¹⁵And 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.And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
  Show context · Read James 5 →
• 2 Kings 1:2-3
  ²And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, enquire of Baal–zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease.Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers and instructed them: “Go inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this injury.” ³But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of Baal–zebub the god of Ekron?But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are on your way to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?’
  Show context · Read 2 Kings 1 →

Caring for the sick

• Matthew 25:36
  Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’
  Show context · Read Matthew 25 →
• Matthew 10:8
  Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
  Show context · Read Matthew 10 →

See also

• Healing
• Care of the body
• Suffering
• Prayer

Notes

1. Verses are quoted in the translation chosen in the Translation menu at the top of the page. See Translations for sources and copyright notices.
2. Each reference links to the full chapter so the verse can be read in context.