The Bible verse most often prayed for healing is Jeremiah 17:14: “Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed.” Close behind are Exodus 15:26, where God calls Himself “the LORD, who heals you,” Psalm 103:3, which says He “heals all your diseases,” and Isaiah 53:5, “by his wounds we are healed.”
Below are 34 healing scriptures from the Old and New Testaments, grouped by need: healing of the body, strength while you wait, verses to pray over someone who is sick, the psalms for healing, healing for the mind and a broken heart, and verses for when healing does not come. Each verse has a short prayer drawn from it, so you can pray the scripture rather than only read it. There is also a section on the two healing miracles of Jesus that took place at pools in Jerusalem, both of which you can still visit today.
How this page is labeled: Scripture quotations are from the NIV. The short prayers under each verse were written by the Holy Land Prayer team.
The 7 Most Powerful Bible Verses for Healing
If you only have a minute, these are the healing scriptures Christians turn to most. Each one is quoted in full further down the page with a prayer.
- Jeremiah 17:14: “Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed.”
- Exodus 15:26: “I am the LORD, who heals you.”
- Psalm 103:2 to 3: He “forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.”
- Isaiah 53:5: “By his wounds we are healed.”
- James 5:15: “The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well.”
- Psalm 147:3: “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
- Isaiah 41:10: “I will strengthen you and help you.”
Healing Scriptures: The God Who Heals
From the beginning of Israel’s story, God revealed Himself as a healer. In Hebrew one of His names is YHWH Rapha, “the LORD who heals.”
God’s answer to King Hezekiah, who was ill and close to death, after he turned his face to the wall and prayed. Hezekiah was given fifteen more years.
Healing Verses About Jesus
A large part of the Gospels is taken up with Jesus healing people: the blind, the paralyzed, a woman who had bled for twelve years, a servant who was dying, a girl who had already died. He never told anyone their illness was deserved.
“By His Wounds We Are Healed”
These two verses are among the most quoted healing scriptures. Isaiah wrote of a servant who would suffer for others; the apostle Peter applied the words to Jesus on the cross. Christians read them first as healing from sin, and also as the promise that every sickness will finally be undone in the resurrection. Many pray them over the sick today, trusting that the One who carried our sins also carries our pain.
Bible Verses for Healing and Strength
Healing often takes longer than anyone hoped. These are the verses for the long middle: the treatments, the waiting rooms and the tired days.
Healing Scriptures to Pray Over Someone Who Is Sick
You can pray any verse on this page for another person by putting their name into it. These four are especially suited to praying over a friend, a parent or a child who is ill.
This passage is the root of the Catholic sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. If someone you love is seriously ill, ask a priest or your church elders to come and pray.
More prayers for a friend or family member: Prayers for the Sick and Prayers for Healing a Friend.
Which Psalms Are for Healing?
There is no single “healing psalm,” but these are the ones Christians have prayed over the sick for centuries:
- Psalm 6: a sick person’s honest cry, “heal me, LORD, for my bones are in agony.”
- Psalm 30: thanksgiving after recovery, “I called to you for help, and you healed me.”
- Psalm 41: God sustains the sick on their sickbed.
- Psalm 103: the God who forgives and heals all your diseases.
- Psalm 107: “He sent out his word and healed them.”
- Psalm 147: He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Healing Verses for the Mind and a Broken Heart
Some wounds do not show on a scan. Grief, fear, depression and a broken heart need healing too, and Scripture speaks to them just as directly.
Jesus’ Healing Miracles in Jerusalem
Two of the healings in John’s Gospel happened at pools in Jerusalem, a short walk from where the Church of the Holy Sepulchre stands today. Both sites can still be visited.
The Pool of Bethesda
Here Jesus met a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years and asked him, “Do you want to get well?” The ruins of the pool lie beside the Church of St. Anne, near the Lions’ Gate in the Old City.
The Pool of Siloam
Jesus put mud on the eyes of a man born blind and sent him to wash. The stepped pool from Jesus’ time was uncovered by archaeologists in 2004 at the southern end of the City of David.
Bible Verses for When Healing Does Not Come
Not everyone who prays is healed in this life, and Scripture does not pretend otherwise. The apostle Paul asked three times for something to be taken away, and it was not. These verses do not explain suffering. They promise God’s presence in it, and an end to it.
For more, see When Healing Does Not Come on our Prayers for Healing page.
How to Pray Healing Scriptures
- Read it slowly, out loud. Hearing God’s promises in your own voice is different from scanning them on a screen.
- Turn it into a request. “He heals all your diseases” becomes “Lord, heal this disease.”
- Put a name in it. Pray the verse over yourself or someone you love by name.
- Choose one verse a day. Write it on a card by the bed or the kettle and pray it each time you see it.
- Pray with others. James tells the sick to call others to pray over them. Ask your church, your family, or send your prayer to Jerusalem.
- Keep seeing the doctor. Praying Scripture and taking medicine have never been in competition. Luke, who recorded many of Jesus’ healings, was a physician.
A Prayer for Healing Built From Scripture
Heal me, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved (Jeremiah 17:14).
You forgive all my sins and heal all my diseases (Psalm 103:3).
By the wounds of Jesus, make me whole (Isaiah 53:5).
Sustain me on my sickbed and restore me from it (Psalm 41:3).
Strengthen me, help me, and hold me up with Your right hand (Isaiah 41:10).
And let Your grace be enough for me while I wait (2 Corinthians 12:9).
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Questions People Ask
What is the most powerful Bible verse for healing?
No verse works like a formula, but Jeremiah 17:14 (“Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed”) is the one most often prayed, because it is itself a prayer for healing. Exodus 15:26, Psalm 103:3 and Isaiah 53:5 are close behind.
What does the Bible say about healing?
That God is a healer (Exodus 15:26), that Jesus healed “every disease and sickness” (Matthew 9:35), that the sick should ask others to pray over them (James 5:14 to 16), and that every sickness will finally end when God makes all things new (Revelation 21:4).
Does the Bible promise healing to everyone?
Not in this life. Scripture promises God’s presence and final healing in the resurrection, but faithful people in the Bible, including Paul and Timothy, lived with illness. Being unhealed is never a sign that someone prayed wrongly or lacked faith.
Which psalm is for healing?
Psalm 103 (“who heals all your diseases”) is the best known. Psalms 6, 30, 41, 107 and 147 are also traditionally prayed for the sick.
What is a good Bible verse for healing and recovery?
Jeremiah 30:17 (“I will restore you to health and heal your wounds”) and Psalm 41:3 (“The LORD sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness”) are both well suited to recovery after illness or surgery.
Can I pray healing scriptures over someone else?
Yes. Put their name into the verse: “Lord, sustain (name) on their sickbed and restore them.” James 5:16 tells believers to “pray for each other so that you may be healed.”
What did Jesus say about healing?
He often linked healing with faith and peace, telling a woman, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace” (Mark 5:34). He also rejected the idea that illness is a punishment, saying of a man born blind that neither he nor his parents had sinned (John 9:3).
Send Your Prayer for Healing to Jerusalem
If you would like your prayer for healing, for yourself or someone you love, carried to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, write it in the form at the top of this page. You can include the verse you have been praying. Your prayer is printed and placed in one of the chapels, a priest prays it in English, and a candle is lit on your behalf. Photographs of your prayer and the candle are emailed to you.
More prayers: Prayers for Healing, Catholic Prayers for Healing, Prayers for Surgery, Prayers for Cancer and Prayers for Good Health.
Related prayers
Who Writes These Prayers
Unless a prayer is marked as traditional or quoted from Scripture, the prayers on this page are written and reviewed by the Holy Land Prayer team, who carry the prayer requests sent to us into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Read more about Holy Land Prayer.
Last updated 3 October 2026 by the Holy Land Prayer team.
