G2390 — ἰάομαι (iaomai)¶

Core Data¶

Strong's: G2390
Original: ἰάομαι
Transliteration: iaomai
Pronunciation: ee-ah'-om-ahee
Part of Speech: Verb (middle/passive deponent)
Occurrences: 28 unique verses (30 tokens) across 8 NT books
First Occurrence: Mat 8:8 — "speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed"
Hapax Legomenon: No

Lexicon Definition¶

Middle voice of apparently a primary verb; to cure (literally or figuratively).

Louw-Nida Semantic Domain¶

Domain 23.008: Health, Vigor, Strength — "to cause someone to become well again after having been sick"
Domain 13.002: Change of State
Other words in 23.008: θεραπεύω (G2323), ἴαμα (G2386), ἴασις (G2392), ἰατρός (G2395), θεραπεία (G2322), καθαρίζω (G2511), διασῴζω (G1295)

Morphological Distribution¶

Form	Count	Notes
Aorist Passive Indicative	5	ἰάθη (3S) — Mat 8:13, 15:28, Luk 8:47, 17:15; ἰάθητε (2P) — 1Pe 2:24
Aorist Middle Indicative	4	ἰάσατο (3S) — Luk 9:42, 14:4, 22:51, Act 28:8
Future Middle/Deponent Indicative	3	ἰάσομαι (1S) — Mat 13:15, Jhn 12:40, Act 28:27
Imperfect M/P Indicative	2	ἰᾶτο (3S) — Luk 6:19, 9:11
Present M/P Infinitive	2	ἰᾶσθαι — Luk 5:17, 9:2
Aorist Passive Subjunctive	2	ἰαθῇ (3S) — Heb 12:13; ἰαθῆτε (2P) — Jas 5:16
Future Passive Indicative	1	ἰαθήσεται (3S) — Mat 8:8
Aorist Passive Infinitive	1	ἰαθῆναι — Luk 6:18
Aorist Passive Imperative	1	ἰαθήτω (3S) — Luk 7:7
Present M/P Indicative	1	ἰᾶταί (3S) — Act 9:34
Present M/P Participle	1	ἰώμενος (NSM) — Act 10:38
Aorist Middle Subjunctive	1	ἰάσηται (3S) — Jhn 4:47
Aorist Passive Participle	1	ἰαθεὶς (NSM) — Jhn 5:13
Perfect Passive Indicative	1	ἴαται (3S) — Mar 5:29

Voice pattern: Passive-dominant (11 passive forms, 9 middle, 6 deponent future). The passive voice emphasizes the healed person as recipient of divine action; middle forms show Jesus as the active healer.

Translation Distribution (KJV)¶

Translation	Verses	%
healed (all forms)	19	68%
heal (all forms)	5	18%
whole (was made whole, whole)	2	7%
maketh	1	4%
let it (be healed)	1	4%

Distribution by Book¶

Book	Count	Per 100 Verses
Luke	12	1.0
Acts	5	0.5
Matthew	4	0.4
John	3	0.3
Hebrews	1	0.3
1 Peter	1	1.0
James	1	0.9
Mark	1	0.1

Luke accounts for 43% of all uses. The word appears exclusively in narrative (Gospels/Acts) and general epistles/Hebrews — absent from all Pauline epistles and Revelation.

Semantic Categories¶

1. Physical Healing by Jesus — Direct Command or Touch¶

Mat 8:13 — "as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed (iaomai) in the selfsame hour"
Luk 14:4 — "And he took him, and healed (iaomai) him, and let him go"
Luk 22:51 — "And he touched his ear, and healed (iaomai) him"
Luk 9:42 — "Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed (iaomai) the child"

2. Physical Healing by Jesus — Power Going Out to Crowds¶

Luk 6:19 — "there went virtue out of him, and healed (iaomai) them all"
Luk 9:11 — "spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed (iaomai) them that had need of curing"
Act 10:38 — "who went about doing good, and healing (iaomai) all that were oppressed of the devil"

3. Faith-Conditioned Healing¶

Mat 8:8 — "speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed (iaomai)" — centurion's faith
Mat 15:28 — "O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was healed (iaomai)"
Luk 8:47 — "she declared unto him... how she was healed (iaomai) immediately"
Mar 5:29 — "she felt in her body that she was healed (iaomai) of that plague"

4. Apostolic Healing Ministry¶

Act 9:34 — "Jesus Christ maketh thee whole (iaomai): arise"
Act 28:8 — "Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed (iaomai) him"
Act 3:11 — "the lame man which was healed (iaomai) held Peter and John"

5. Spiritual/Metaphorical Healing — Judicial Hardening¶

Mat 13:15 — "lest... they should... be converted, and I should heal (iaomai) them" (quoting Isa 6:10)
Jhn 12:40 — "that they should not... be converted, and I should heal (iaomai) them" (quoting Isa 6:10)
Act 28:27 — "lest... they should be converted, and I should heal (iaomai) them" (quoting Isa 6:10)

6. Spiritual/Metaphorical Healing — Soteriological¶

1Pe 2:24 — "by whose stripes ye were healed (iaomai)" (quoting Isa 53:5)
Heb 12:13 — "lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed (iaomai)"
Jas 5:16 — "pray one for another, that ye may be healed (iaomai)"

Common Collocations¶

Word	Strong's	Co-occurrences	Typical Pattern
Ἰησοῦς (Iesous)	G2424	8x (29%)	Jesus as subject/agent of healing
ἔπω (epo)	G2036	6x (21%)	"said... and healed" — healing follows spoken word
πᾶς (pas)	G3956	6x (21%)	"healed them all" — comprehensive healing
λαός (laos)	G2992	5x (18%)	"the people... healed" — public mass healings
ὁράω (horao)	G3708	5x (18%)	witnesses seeing the healing
καρδία (kardia)	G2588	4x (14%)	heart-hardening prevents spiritual healing (Isa 6:10 quotes)
παῖς (pais)	G3816	4x (14%)	"servant/child was healed" — healing of dependents
ὄχλος (ochlos)	G3793	4x (14%)	crowd contexts for mass healing
δύναμις (dynamis)	G1411	3x (11%)	"power/virtue" going out to heal
ἅπτομαι (haptomai)	G680	3x (11%)	touch preceding healing

Word Family / Cognates (ia- root)¶

G2386 ἴαμα (iama) — healing gift (noun; 3v — 1 Cor 12:9, 28, 30)
G2392 ἴασις (iasis) — healing act/cure (noun; 3v — Luk 13:32, Act 4:22, 30)
G2395 ἰατρός (iatros) — physician (noun; 5v — Mat 9:12, Mar 2:17, 5:26, Luk 4:23, Col 4:14)

Synonyms¶

G2323 θεραπεύω (therapeuo) — heal, cure, serve (15v with "heal" meaning). Root sense "attend to / treat"; broader range including "serve" — used more frequently but interchangeably with iaomai for physical healing in the Gospels.

Antonyms¶

G4417 πταίω (ptaio) — stumble, fall
G2679 κατασκάπτω (kataskapto) — dig down, demolish

Easily Confused Words¶

Word	Strong's	Shared Translation	Key Difference
θεραπεύω (therapeuo)	G2323	healed, heal, to heal	therapeuo = broader range including "serve/attend"; iaomai = focused specifically on the cure itself. Never co-occur in the same verse.
σώζω (sozo)	G4982	was healed	sozo = save/deliver/preserve; occasionally means physical healing but primarily soteriological

Hebrew Source (via LXX)¶

Hebrew Source	Strong's	Co-occurrences	PMI Score	Notes
רָפָא (rapha)	H7495	45	31.79	Primary equivalent — near one-to-one bridge
חָבַשׁ (chabash)	H2280	5	11.12	"Bind up/wrap" — iaomai renders healing-bandaging contexts
שֶׁבֶר (sheber)	H7667	4	8.78	"Fracture/breach" — contextual co-occurrence
שָׁבַר (shabar)	H7665	5	7.01	"Break" — iaomai for restoring what was broken
שׁוּב (shub)	H7725	9	4.69	"Turn/return" — restoration contexts
שָׁלוֹם (shalom)	H7965	3	3.76	"Peace/wholeness" — healing as restoration to shalom

The H7495 rapha mapping (45 co-occurrences, PMI 31.79) is among the strongest Hebrew-Greek alignments in the LXX — a near one-to-one bridge. This is the channel through which OT rapha-healing language flows into the NT.

Domain Neighbors (Louw-Nida 23.008)¶

Strong's	Lemma	Total Verses	Primary KJV Translation
G2323	θεραπεύω	15	healed, to heal
G2386	ἴαμα	3	of healing, of healings
G2392	ἴασις	3	cures, heal
G2395	ἰατρός	5	a physician, physicians
G2322	θεραπεία	4	household, of healing
G2511	καθαρίζω	9	be thou clean, clean
G1295	διασῴζω	4	safe, and heal
G1453	ἐγείρω	28	up, arise