StrongerBible

rapah

רָפָא

HebrewH7495heal, physician, ...

Appears 67 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Gen 20:17Gen 50:2 (2×)Exo 15:26Exo 21:19 (2×)Lev 13:18Lev 13:37Lev 14:3Lev 14:48Num 12:13Deu 28:27Deu 28:35Deu 32:391Sa 6:31Ki 18:302Ki 2:212Ki 2:222Ki 8:292Ki 9:152Ki 20:52Ki 20:82Ch 7:142Ch 16:122Ch 22:62Ch 30:20Job 5:18Job 13:4Psa 6:2(3)Psa 30:2(3)Psa 41:4(5)Psa 60:2(4)Psa 103:3Psa 107:20Psa 147:3Ecc 3:3Isa 6:10Isa 19:22 (2×)Isa 30:26Isa 53:5Isa 57:18Isa 57:19Jer 3:22Jer 6:14Jer 8:11Jer 8:22Jer 15:18Jer 17:14 (2×)Jer 19:11Jer 30:17Jer 33:6Jer 51:8
Root family
Names & words formed with this
Word studyrah-FAHverb

What rapah means

to heal: to make a sick, wounded, or broken thing sound and whole again.

TranslatabilityPartialCertaintySettled

At its center this word is about restoring something to soundness. A sick body, a wound, a foul spring, a cracked pot, a ruined people: in each case the word names the act of putting right what has gone wrong, so that the thing works as it should again. The everyday picture is the healing of the body, and that picture is what the other uses lean on.

From there the word stretches in two directions that are still the same idea, not different ideas. It can be used of objects and places, where to heal a spring of bad water or a stretch of useless land is simply to make it good and usable again, the way a body is made well. And it is used again and again of God restoring his people: forgiving their sin, lifting a judgment, bringing them home from exile. The prophets reach for it because the nation's trouble is pictured as a sickness, so its rescue is pictured as a cure.

The Bible names God as the great healer (he calls himself the one who heals in Exodus 15:26), yet it does not set human medicine against him. Human physicians appear without blame, and a law even assumes a man will pay to have an injured person healed. Healing can be a plain return of health, or a deep act of mercy in which God forgives, restores, and makes his people whole. Often, especially in the prophets, the physical and the deeper meaning are felt together.

Nuances

1ato heal a sick or injured body; to cure a person of disease or wounds.
Gen 20:17Exo 21:19 (2×)Lev 13:18Lev 13:37Lev 14:3Num 12:131Sa 6:32Ki 8:292Ki 9:152Ki 20:52Ki 20:82Ch 22:6
1bto be the one who heals; a healer or physician.
Gen 50:2 (2×)Exo 15:262Ch 16:12Job 13:4
1cto make a thing or place sound and usable again; to repair what is spoiled or broken.
1Ki 18:302Ki 2:212Ki 2:22Ecc 3:3Jer 19:11Ezk 47:8Ezk 47:9Ezk 47:11
1dof God restoring his people: to forgive their sin, lift his judgment, and make the nation whole again.
Deu 32:39Isa 6:10Isa 19:22 (2×)Isa 30:26Isa 53:5Isa 57:18Isa 57:19Jer 3:22Jer 6:14Jer 8:11Jer 8:22Jer 15:18

What scholars say about rapah

The standard lexicons (HALOT, BDB, DCH) and the theological dictionaries (TDOT, NIDOTTE, TWOT) agree that the core meaning of this verb is "to heal" or "to make whole," and that its uses form one connected range rather than separate words. The lexicons distinguish its uses by what is healed: the body and its sicknesses or wounds; things and places, such as the spring Elisha heals or a barren land; and, most often in the prophets, the people of God, whose sin, apostasy, and national ruin are pictured as a sickness that God cures. The participle is the ordinary word for a physician. Scholars stress that the Bible presents God as the decisive healer, while treating human medicine without condemnation, and that in the prophetic books the bodily and the covenantal senses are frequently intended together, so that the cure of the nation is at once forgiveness and restoration.

Sources

  • HALOT (Koehler-Baumgartner), s.v. רפאlexicon
  • BDB (Brown-Driver-Briggs), s.v. רפאlexicon
  • DCH (Clines, ed.), s.v. רפאlexicon
  • Michael L. Brown, "רפא," in Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (TDOT) 13:593-602dictionary
  • Michael L. Brown, "רפא," in New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis (NIDOTTE) 3:1162-1173dictionary
  • Michael L. Brown, Israel's Divine Healer (1995)monograph

All attested forms of רָפָא

qal imperative 2ms

רְפָאֵ, רְפָ, רְפָא, רְפָאָ

Psa 6:2, Jer 17:14, Psa 60:2, Num 12:13, Psa 41:4

niphal infinitive-construct construct

הֵרָפֵא, הֵרָפֵה

Deu 28:27, Deu 28:35, Jer 15:18, Jer 19:11

niphal perfect 3ms

נִרְפָּא

Lev 13:37, Lev 14:3, Lev 14:48, Isa 53:5

qal imperfect 1cs

אֶרְפָּא, אֶרְפָּאֵ, אֶרְפָּה

Deu 32:39, Hos 14:4, Jer 30:17, Jer 3:22

qal participle m s absolute

רֹפֵא, רֹפֶא

Psa 103:3, Psa 147:3, Jer 8:22, 2Ki 20:5

hithpael infinitive-construct construct

הִתְרַפֵּא

2Ki 8:29, 2Ki 9:15, 2Ch 22:6

qal imperfect 3ms

יִרְפָּא

2Ki 20:8, Isa 30:26, Lam 2:13

qal infinitive-construct construct

רְפֹּא, רָפְאִ, רְפּוֹא

Hos 5:13, Hos 7:1, Ecc 3:3

qal participle m p absolute

רֹפְאִים

Gen 50:2, Gen 50:2, 2Ch 16:12

piel consecutive-imperfect 3mp

וַיְרַפְּאוּ, וַיְרַפּוּ

Jer 6:14, Jer 8:11

piel imperfect 3ms

יְרַפֵּא

Exo 21:19, Zec 11:16

qal conjunctive-imperfect 1cs

וְאֶרְפָּא, וְאֶרְפָּאֵ

2Ch 7:14, Isa 57:18

qal conjunctive-imperfect 3ms

וְיִרְפָּאֵ

Psa 107:20, Hos 6:1

qal consecutive-imperfect 3ms

וַיִּרְפָּא

Gen 20:17, 2Ch 30:20

qal consecutive-perfect 1cs

וּרְפָאתִי

Isa 57:19, Jer 33:6

qal consecutive-perfect 3ms

וְרָפָא, וּרְפָאָ

Isa 6:10, Isa 19:22

niphal conjunctive-imperfect 1cs

וְאֵרָפֵא

Jer 17:14

niphal conjunctive-imperfect 3mp

וְיֵרָפְאוּ

Ezk 47:9

niphal consecutive-imperfect 3mp

וַיֵּרָפוּ

2Ki 2:22

niphal consecutive-perfect 3cp

וְנִרְפּוּ

Ezk 47:8

niphal consecutive-perfect 3ms

וְנִרְפָּא

Lev 13:18

niphal imperfect 2mp

תֵּרָפְאוּ

1Sa 6:3

niphal imperfect 3fs

תֵּרָפֵא

Jer 51:8

niphal imperfect 3mp

יֵרָפְאוּ

Ezk 47:11

niphal perfect 3fs

נִרְפָּתָה

Jer 51:9

piel consecutive-imperfect 3ms

וַיְרַפֵּא

1Ki 18:30

piel infinitive-absolute absolute

רַפֹּא

Exo 21:19

piel perfect 1cp

רִפִּינוּ

Jer 51:9

piel perfect 1cs

רִפִּאתִי

2Ki 2:21

piel perfect 2mp

רִפֵּאתֶם

Ezk 34:4

qal consecutive-imperfect 2ms

וַתִּרְפָּאֵ

Psa 30:2

qal imperfect 3fp

תִּרְפֶּינָה

Job 5:18

qal infinitive-absolute absolute

רָפוֹא

Isa 19:22

qal participle m p construct

רֹפְאֵי

Job 13:4

qal participle m s construct

רֹפְאֶ

Exo 15:26

qal perfect 1cs

רְפָאתִי

Hos 11:3