What does the Bible say about prayer for healing?
Bible Topic · WEB
The Bible invites believers to pray confidently for healing, trusting God’s compassion and sovereign wisdom while resting ultimately in Christ’s saving work. Jeremiah 17:14 and Psalms 147:3 portray the Lord as the One who heals and restores the brokenhearted. James 5:14-16 calls the church to pray for the sick, confess sins, and seek the Lord together, affirming that prayer is effective because God acts. Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24 center our deepest healing in Christ, who bore sin to reconcile us to God. Jesus healed many, as Acts 10:38 recalls, yet Scripture does not promise immediate physical recovery in every case. We pray with faith, submit to God’s will, use his ordinary means of care, and hope for final wholeness in resurrection.
Top passages, ranked by readers
Rankings: OpenBible.info Topical Bible (CC BY) · Scripture: World English Bible
- Jeremiah 17:14
Heal me, O Yahweh, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for you are my praise.
- Isaiah 53:5
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.
- James 5:16
Confess your offenses to one another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effective, earnest prayer of a righteous man is powerfully effective.
- 1 Peter 2:24
who his own self bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed.
- 3 John 1:2
Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be healthy, even as your soul prospers.
- Exodus 15:26
and he said, "If you will diligently listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, 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 Yahweh who heals you."
- James 5:14-15
[14] Is any among 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, [15] 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.
- Psalms 147:3
He heals the broken in heart, And binds up their wounds.
- James 5:15
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.
- Acts 10:38
even Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
Related topics
Go deeper
Ask Explain Bible AI about prayer for healing and get a fuller answer from a Reformed theological perspective.
Ask what the Bible says about prayer for healing