The meaning of Health in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
helth (shalom, yeshu'ah, 'arukhah; riph'uth, 'arukhah; soteria, hugiaino): Shalom is part of the formal salutation still common in Palestine. In this sense it is used in Genesis 43:28; II Samuel 20:9; the stem word means "peace," and is used in many varieties of expression relating to security, success and good bodily health. Yeshu'ah, which specifically means deliverance or help, occurs in the refrain of Psalms 42:11; Psalms 43:5, as well as in Psalms 67:2; in the American Standard Revised Version it is rendered "help." Riph'uth is literally, "healing," and is found only in Proverbs 3:8. Marpe' also means healing of the body, but is used in a figurative sense as of promoting soundness of mind and moral character in Proverbs 4:22; Proverbs 12:18; Proverbs 13:17; Proverbs 16:24, as also in Jeremiah 8:15, where the Revised Version (British and American) renders it "healing." 'Arukhah is also used in the same figurative sense in Isaiah 58:8; Jeremiah 8:22; Jeremiah 30:17; Jeremiah 33:6; literally means "repairing or restoring"; it is the word used of the repair of the wall of Jerusalem by Nehemiah (chapter 4).
The word "health" occurs twice in the New Testament: in Paul's appeal to his shipmates to take food (Acts 27:34), he says it is for their soteria, literally, "safety"; so the American Standard Revised Version, the King James Version "health." The verb hugianino is used in III John 1:2, in the apostle's salutation to Gaius.
Alexander Macalister
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