Health

HEALTH 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; 2 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; 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; 12:18; 13:17; 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; 30:17; 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 3John 1:2, in the apostle's salutation to Gaius.

Alexander Macalister

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Bibliography Information

Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Entry for 'HEALTH'".  "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia".  1915.