TR: rapha → iaomai (Healing/Curing)¶

The Chain¶

Hebrew OT              LXX (Greek OT)           Greek NT
───────────            ───────────────           ────────
רָפָא (rapha)       →  ἰάομαι (iaomai)       →  ἰάομαι (iaomai)
H7495, 62v in OT       45x as translation        28v in NT
"heal, cure"            of rapha (PMI 31.79)      "heal, cure, make whole"

OT Usage (Hebrew)¶

Strong's	Word	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
H7495	רָפָא (rapha)	62v	heal, cure, mend; participle = physician
H4832	מַרְפֵּא (marpeʼ)	16v	healing, health, remedy (cognate noun)
H7499	רְפֻאָה (rephuʼah)	1v	medicine, remedy (cognate noun)

Key OT passages: - Exo 15:26 — "I am the LORD that healeth thee" — divine self-revelation as healer - Isa 53:5 — "with his stripes we are healed" (Niphal) — vicarious healing - Jer 17:14 — "Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed" — petition formula - Hos 14:4 — "I will heal their backsliding" — metaphorical national healing

H7495-rapha.md

LXX Bridge¶

Hebrew	Greek Translation	Co-occurrences	PMI Score	Notes
rapha (H7495)	ἰάομαι (G2390)	45	31.79	Primary equivalent — near one-to-one
rapha (H7495)	ἰατρός (G2395)	3	10.45	"Physician" — Qal participle
chabash (H2280)	ἰάομαι (G2390)	5	11.12	"Bind up" occasionally rendered as iaomai
sheber (H7667)	ἰάομαι (G2390)	4	8.78	"Fracture/breach" — contextual co-occurrence

Semantic continuity in translation: The LXX translators consistently chose iaomai for rapha, preserving the full semantic range — physical disease (Lev 13–14), national restoration (2Ch 7:14), spiritual healing (Hos 14:4), and vicarious suffering (Isa 53:5). The Greek middle voice of iaomai ("cure oneself" / "be cured") naturally maps to the Hebrew Niphal passive "be healed." No significant semantic shift occurred at this bridge point.

NT Usage (Greek)¶

Strong's	Word	Occurrences	Primary Meaning
G2390	ἰάομαι (iaomai)	28v	cure, heal, make whole
G2395	ἰατρός (iatros)	7v	physician (cognate noun)
G2386	ἴαμα (iama)	3v	gift of healing (cognate noun)
G2392	ἴασις (iasis)	3v	the act/result of curing (cognate noun)

Key NT passages: - Luke 4:18 — "he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted" — quoting Isa 61:1 - Acts 10:38 — "healing all that were oppressed of the devil" — summary of Jesus' ministry - James 5:16 — "pray one for another, that ye may be healed" — prayer-healing link - 1 Peter 2:24 — "by whose stripes ye were healed" — quoting Isa 53:5

G2390-iaomai.md

Direct OT→NT Quotations¶

NT Verse	Quotes OT	Shared Word	Significance
1 Pet 2:24	Isa 53:5	rapha (Niphal) → iaomai (aorist passive)	"by whose stripes ye were healed" — the defining vicarious-healing text carried intact from Hebrew through LXX into the NT
Matt 13:15	Isa 6:10	rapha (Qal) → iaomai (future middle)	"and I should heal them" — Israel's hardening and potential healing
John 12:40	Isa 6:10	rapha → iaomai	Same quotation, applied to Jewish rejection of Jesus
Acts 28:27	Isa 6:10	rapha → iaomai	Paul applies the same text to Roman Jews

The Isa 6:10 quotation appears three times in the NT (Matt 13:15, John 12:40, Acts 28:27), always using iaomai to translate rapha — confirming the bridge was completely stable.

Continuity and Shifts¶

What stays the same across testaments: - God remains the primary agent of healing in both OT and NT usage - Physical and metaphorical/spiritual healing coexist in both testaments - The prayer-healing connection persists (Num 12:13 → Jas 5:16) - The wound-heal antithesis carries over (Deut 32:39 "I wound and I heal" → 1 Pet 2:24 "stripes... healed")

What shifts: - In the NT, Jesus performs the healing that YHWH claimed as his exclusive prerogative (Exo 15:26 "I am the LORD that healeth thee" → Acts 10:38 Jesus "healing all") - The NT expands iaomai's participial noun family: iama (gift of healing, 1 Cor 12:9) has no OT equivalent — healing becomes a distributed spiritual gift - The Qal participle ropheʼ ("physician") mapped to iatros in both LXX and NT, but the NT physician is contrasted negatively with divine healing (Mark 5:26 "suffered many things of many physicians")