Bible Verses About Healing
The ministry of healing runs throughout both the Old and New Testaments, always connected to the power of God acting in response to faith and prayer. In the Gospels, the healing miracles of Jesus are signs of the Kingdom of God breaking into the present — not merely physical cures, but restorations of the whole person to right relationship with God and community. The Catholic Church continues this ministry through the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, instituted on the basis of James 5:14-15.
The Church distinguishes between the healing of the body, which is not always granted in this life, and the healing of the soul, which is always available through repentance and the sacraments. Both kinds of healing appear in Scripture, and both are encompassed in the prayer of the Church for the sick.
Note: 1 verse on this page is from the deuterocanonical books — books included in the Catholic Bible but absent from most Protestant translations (Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, 1–2 Maccabees).
9 verses — Douay-Rheims Bible (1899 Challoner revision) — Public domain
Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests 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 man: and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him.James 5:14-15 — Douay-Rheims
The explicit scriptural foundation for the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, practiced in the Catholic Church.
Who healeth the broken of heart, and bindeth up their bruises.Psalm 147:3 — Douay-Rheims
A post-exilic psalm praising God's power over both the cosmos and the wounded human heart.
But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed.Isaiah 53:5 — Douay-Rheims
The Fourth Servant Song, read by the Church as a prophecy of Christ's redemptive suffering.
And behold a leper came and adored him, saying: Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus stretching forth his hand, touched him, saying: I will, be thou made clean. And forthwith his leprosy was cleansed.Matthew 8:2-3 — Douay-Rheims
The first healing miracle recorded in Matthew's Gospel — Jesus touches the untouchable and heals him.
Honour the physician for the need thou hast of him: for the most High hath created him. For all healing is from God, and he shall receive gifts of the king ... The most High hath created medicines out of the earth, and a wise man will not abhor them.Sirach 38:1-2, 4Deuterocanonical — Douay-Rheims
A deuterocanonical text uniquely affirming both divine healing and the proper use of medicine and physicians.
Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed: save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.Jeremiah 17:14 — Douay-Rheims
Jeremiah's personal prayer of trust in God as the ultimate source of all healing.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Wherefore he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the contrite of heart, to preach deliverance to the captives, and sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of reward.Luke 4:18 — Douay-Rheims
Jesus reads from Isaiah in the Nazareth synagogue and applies it to his own mission — healing is central to the proclamation of the Kingdom.
Beloved, I wish that in all things thou mayest proceed prosperously, and fare well, as thy soul doth prosper.3 John 1:2 — Douay-Rheims
John's greeting to Gaius, connecting bodily health with the health of the soul — both objects of Christian prayer.
If thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and do what is right before him, and obey his commandments, and keep all his precepts, none of the evils that I laid upon Egypt, will I bring upon thee: for I am the Lord thy healer.Exodus 15:26 — Douay-Rheims
After the crossing of the Red Sea, God reveals himself as Yahweh-Ropheka — the Lord who heals.
Related Topics
Related Catholic Prayers
Source
All verse texts from the Douay-Rheims Bible (1899 Challoner revision), public domain. The Douay-Rheims is the traditional Catholic English Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgate.