Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
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?
- BSB Is there no balm in Gilead? Is no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?
- 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 into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured.
- Gen 37:25And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.
- Jer 51:8Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.
- Jer 30:12–17For thus saith the LORD, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous.
- Luke 8:43And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,
- Luke 5:31–32And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.
- Gen 43:11And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds:
- Isa 1:5–6Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
- Matt 9:11–12And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans 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.