Scripture by topic
Whether you are praying for your own body or sitting beside someone else's bed, these are the passages the church has prayed for centuries.
They are grouped by the kind of healing you are asking for, and the last group is honest about the times the answer has not come yet.
The claim underneath every prayer for healing.
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and do not forget all His kind deeds—
3 He who forgives all your iniquities and heals all your diseases,
Psalm 103:2-3
saying, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, then I will not bring on you any of the diseases I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”
Exodus 15:26
But I will restore your health and heal your wounds, declares the LORD, because they call you an outcast, Zion, for whom no one cares.”
Jeremiah 30:17
O LORD my God, I cried to You for help, and You healed me.
Psalm 30:2
19 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress.
20 He sent forth His word and healed them; He rescued them from the Pit.
Psalm 107:19-20
Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved, for You are my praise.
Jeremiah 17:14
Not reluctant, not selective, not too busy.
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.
Matthew 4:23
“Daughter,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be free of your affliction.”
Mark 5:34
“The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed,
Luke 4:18
But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53:5
He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”
1 Peter 2:24
Scripture is specific about how to ask — out loud, together, with the church rather than alone.
14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
James 5:14-15
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.
James 5:16
The LORD will sustain him on his bed of illness and restore him from his bed of sickness.
Psalm 41:3
Beloved, I pray that in every way you may prosper and enjoy good health, as your soul also prospers.
3 John 1:2
Paul asked three times and was told no. That is in the Bible too, and it is not a failure of faith.
8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
9 But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.
10 That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:8-10
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Psalm 147:3
A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.
Proverbs 17:22
‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’ and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:4
James 5:14 assumes healing is asked for out loud and in company — call the elders, pray over the person. If you have been praying about this alone, the most biblical next step is to stop doing it alone. Send one of these verses to someone and ask them to pray it with you this week.
A prayer you can borrow
Father, You are the God who heals, so I am asking plainly: heal this. Heal this body, this wound, this thing I have carried too long. And if the answer is not yet, be the strength that is made perfect in weakness, because I do not have my own. Amen.
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That God heals, that Jesus healed constantly and without reluctance, and that the church is told to pray for the sick directly — James 5:14 instructs believers to call the elders and pray over them. Healing is presented as something to ask for, not something to hope quietly about.
Not always in this life, and Scripture does not hide it. Paul asked three times about his own affliction and received grace instead of healing (2 Corinthians 12:8-9). Unanswered prayer for healing is not evidence of too little faith — it is a grief the Bible takes seriously.
Isaiah 53:5 is about Christ bearing what was ours. Christians differ on how far it extends to physical healing now; nearly all agree it guarantees healing fully in the end (Revelation 21:4). It is a verse to pray with hope, not a formula that obligates an outcome.
Pray Psalm 103:2-3 and James 5:15 over them by name, ask plainly for healing, and say it where they can hear you. Then do something ordinary and practical — Scripture's picture of care includes food and presence, not only words.
Scripture quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible, which is free of copyright restrictions for use on websites. Read the full Bible on Great Faith.