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?
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?
- 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?
- 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, virgin daughter of Egypt. In vain do you use many medicines. There is no healing for you.
- Gen 37:25They sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spices and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.
- Jer 51:8Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed! Wail for her! Take balm for her pain. Perhaps she may be healed.
- Jer 30:12–17For Yahweh says, “Your hurt is incurable, and your wound grievous.
- Luke 8:43A woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her living on physicians, and could not be healed by any,
- Luke 5:31–32Jesus answered them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do.
- Gen 43:11Their father, Israel, said to them, “If it must be so, then do this. Take from the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry down a present for the man, a little balm, a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts, and almonds;
- Isa 1:5–6Why should you be beaten more, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
- Matt 9:11–12When the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.