Is there no balm in Gilead? Is no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?
Parallel translations
- WEB Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? Why then isn’t the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
- KJV Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
- NKJV Is there no balm in Gilead, Is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery For the health of the daughter of my people?
- NASB Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people been restored?
- NLT Is there no medicine in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why is there no healing for the wounds of my people?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jeremiah asks why, though Gilead had balm and physicians, his people remain unhealed. The remedy exists, but they will not seek it.
Overview
Gilead was famous for its healing balm, so the question is rhetorical and pointed: the means of healing is available, yet the nation's spiritual sickness persists because they refuse to repent. The verse exposes that Judah's true ailment is sin, for which no ordinary medicine suffices. It famously points beyond every earthly remedy to the great Physician, Christ, who alone heals the wound of sin.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Jer 46:11Go up to Gilead for balm, O Virgin Daughter of Egypt! In vain you try many remedies, but for you there is no healing.
- Gen 37:25And as they sat down to eat a meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh on their way down to Egypt.
- Jer 51:8Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been shattered. Wail for her; get her balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.
- Jer 30:12–17For this is what the LORD says: “Your injury is incurable; your wound is grievous.
- Luke 8:43including a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. She had spent all her money on physicians, but no one was able to heal her.
- Luke 5:31–32Jesus answered, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
- Gen 43:11Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your packs and carry them down as a gift for the man—a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds.
- Isa 1:5–6Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head has a massive wound, and your whole heart is afflicted.
- Matt 9:11–12When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 8:22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.