Hebrew word · H7500

רִפְאוּת

rif'ut

healing

From the root rp' (to heal, mend, restore). This root covers curing disease (2 Kings 20:5), repairing something broken (an altar, 1 Kings 18:30; land, 2 Chronicles 7:14), making water wholesome again (2 Kings 2:21–22), and restoring a people. The noun rif'ut, 'healing / health', occurs only here.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

healing

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Proverbs 3:8

Range of meaning

From the root rp' (to heal, mend, restore). This root covers curing disease (2 Kings 20:5), repairing something broken (an altar, 1 Kings 18:30; land, 2 Chronicles 7:14), making water wholesome again (2 Kings 2:21–22), and restoring a people. The noun rif'ut, 'healing / health', occurs only here. Its close relative marpe' ('healing, remedy, soundness') is common in Proverbs (4:22; 12:18; 13:17; 14:30; 16:24).

Against the English

KJV and WEB have 'health', and BSB, ESV and NASB have 'healing'. 'Health' covers the lasting state better. 'Healing' can suggest a sick person being cured, which narrows the Hebrew, since the root covers keeping whole as well as becoming whole.

How it drifted

Modern English 'healing' leans toward a medical event, a recovery from a diagnosed illness. The Hebrew wisdom idea is broader: overall soundness and vitality, bodily and inward together.

Used elsewhere in the period

Proverbs 4:22 is the nearest parallel: wisdom's words are 'life to those who find them, and healing (marpe') to all their flesh'. Proverbs 16:24: pleasant words are 'healing to the bones'. Proverbs 14:30: 'a heart of healing (lev marpe') is life to the flesh'. The Septuagint translates with iasis ('healing, cure').

Where it appears

Proverbs · 1

  1. Proverbs 3:8 רִ֭פְאוּת healing

    This will bring healing to your body and refreshment to your bones.

    Here: An abstract noun from rapha' (to heal, restore, make whole), found only here in the Hebrew Bible. It means soundness restored or kept up, not only a cure for a particular illness. It stands first for emphasis: healing is what comes of the fear of the LORD in verse 7.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.