Properly, to mend (by stitching), i.e. (figuratively) to cure
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רָפָא (rapha) means to heal, cure, restore, mend, or repair. It can concern bodily illness and wounds, but Scripture also applies it to water, land, an altar, communal apostasy, national devastation, broken hearts, and damaged relationships.
Reader summary
Full entry for רָפָא (H7495) · Open the biblical lexicon
רָפָא (rapha) means to heal, cure, restore, mend, or repair. It can concern bodily illness and wounds, but Scripture also applies it to water, land, an altar, communal apostasy, national devastation, broken hearts, and damaged relationships.
The BSB source-word alignment has 67 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include heal (4), to recover (3), . . . (2), and heal (2), and heals (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 20:17. Its strongest book concentrations include Jeremiah (13), Isaiah (7), Psalms (7), 2 Kings (6).
רָפָא (rapha) means to heal, cure, restore, mend, or repair. It can concern bodily illness and wounds, but Scripture also applies it to water, land, an altar, communal apostasy, national devastation, broken hearts, and damaged relationships. First Kings 18:30 uses the verb for repairing the Lord's altar, showing that English make whole may sometimes be closer than medical language.
Exodus 15:26 says, in the Marah covenant instruction, that the Lord is the one healing Israel. This is a divine self-description in a conditional historical setting, not a formula guaranteeing immediate recovery from every illness. Scripture also names physicians in Genesis 50 and distinguishes faithful healing from superficial reassurance. Jeremiah condemns leaders who treat the people's wound lightly by announcing peace when there is no peace.
Isaiah 53:5 says healing comes through the servant's wounds in a poem centered on transgression, iniquity, punishment, peace, suffering, and vindication. Later Scripture applies this text within Jesus' saving work, but the line should not be used to guarantee that every believer will receive physical cure now. Some passages speak of bodily healing, others of repentance or communal restoration, and some of creation or land. The object and literary argument define what is being healed.
Rapha covers bodily cure, recovery from wounds, restoration of covenant or communal life, repair of objects, and transformation of damaged environments. It can also appear in failed or superficial healing claims.
Joseph commands physicians to embalm Jacob, showing the presence of recognized medical practitioners even though this occurrence concerns preparation after death rather than cure.
At Marah the Lord connects attentive covenant obedience with protection from Egypt's diseases and identifies himself as Israel's healer.
Elijah repairs the Lord's broken altar before the offering on Mount Carmel.
God answers Hezekiah's prayer and promises bodily healing within a specific prophetic sign and timeline.
Asa is criticized for seeking physicians without seeking the Lord in his illness, a rebuke of misplaced reliance rather than a general ban on medicine.
The servant's wounds are related to the healing of those whose transgressions and iniquities he bears.
Religious leaders are accused of treating the people's wound lightly and declaring peace where no peace exists.
The prophet prays directly for the Lord to heal and save amid persecution and lament.
In the temple-river vision, waters are healed and living creatures flourish wherever the river goes.
God promises to heal Israel's turning away and love freely in a call to return.
God heals brokenhearted people and binds their wounds within a psalm about gathering Jerusalem's outcasts.
The poem places a time to heal alongside a time to kill within its sequence of contrasting seasons.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Physical restoration through binding or stitching extends metaphorically to spiritual and covenantal healing of broken relationship.
Physical restoration through binding or stitching extends metaphorically to spiritual and covenantal healing of broken relationship.
properly, to mend (by stitching), i.e. (figuratively) to cure BDB: heal Usage: cure, (cause to) heal, physician, repair, × thoroughly, make whole. See 7503.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 5 selected witnesses from 69 lexical occurrence verses.
רָפָא is a primitive root - no further derivation.
Healing reveals God’s restorative purpose beyond judgment.Hosea 14:4-8
Describes God’s restorative intervention.Hosea 6:1-3
Describes divine restoration of apostasy.Hosea 7:1-7
Reveals restorative purpose of discipline.Isaiah 19:18-22
Divine mercy precedes exposure of sin.Isaiah 38:1-8
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Rapha invites honest attention to what is damaged and what restoration would require. First Kings 18 repairs an altar, Jeremiah denounces leaders who call a deep wound healed, Hosea speaks of healed unfaithfulness, and Psalm 147 joins broken hearts with gathered exiles. Bodily healing texts support prayer and compassionate care without creating a right to promise cure.
Churches should welcome medical, psychiatric, rehabilitative, palliative, and trauma-informed care; respect disability and chronic illness; avoid blaming people whose conditions persist; and never discourage prescribed treatment through unsupported prophetic claims. Hope may include cure, adaptation, community support, repentance, repair, resurrection, and final renewal, but the passage must define which promise is in view.
Jer.17.14
H7495 is a verb used transitively, intransitively, and passively. Its objects range from persons and bodily conditions to water, land, altars, communities, and covenant unfaithfulness. Heal is not always medical and make whole is not always total or immediate.
The Gospels portray Jesus healing and the New Testament applies servant texts to his saving work. Those passages support Christian hope while retaining distinctions among signs, salvation, sanctification, present care, and resurrection.