גֵּהָה

From the study of Proverbs 17:22

Range of meaning

Healing, cure, recovery of health. This exact noun occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. A related verb appears in Hosea 5:13: Assyria 'cannot heal you of your wound' (lo yigheh mikkem mazor). That verse is the main evidence for the meaning 'heal/cure'.

Against the English

KJV: 'doeth good like a medicine' (the 'like' is supplied in italics). BSB, NIV, ESV, NASB, NLT: 'is good medicine'. WEB: 'makes good medicine'. YLT: 'doth good to the body'. 'Medicine' makes a modern reader picture a remedy or a drug. The Hebrew is closer to 'healing' or 'recovery', the process of getting well.

How it drifted

Older English used 'medicine' for any means of cure. Today it suggests a substance you take. Also, turning the verb plus object ('makes healing good') into a statement ('is good medicine') turns a process into a thing.

Used elsewhere in the period

Hosea 5:13 (the verb). The Greek Septuagint renders the clause 'a cheerful heart makes [one] thrive / be in good health' (euektein poiei). The Latin Vulgate reads 'a joyful mind makes a flourishing age' (aetatem floridam facit). Lexicons such as BDB and HALOT give 'healing, cure', and HALOT notes the proposed emendation to geviyyah, 'body'.