Bible Strands
Psalms 147:3
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist praises the LORD for building Jerusalem and gathering exiles (v.2); this verse names one of His ongoing acts toward that community.
The words — רֹפֵא (rōpē', "one who heals") and מְחַבֵּשׁ (mḥabbēsh, "binding up") are both participles, marking these as continuous, habitual actions rather than single events.
The thread — Job 5:18 pairs the same two motions ("He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal"); Jeremiah 33:6 applies healing to the same post-exilic community.
Why it lands — The participles make healing God's standing activity, not a reward for sufficient faith or a one-time intervention; the reader is positioned as an object of ongoing work, not a candidate who must first qualify.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.
Cross-references
- Psalms 34:18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the contrite in spirit.
- Job 5:18 For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal.
- Jeremiah 33:6 Nevertheless, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal its people and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth.
- Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners,
- Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed,
- Hosea 6:1 Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.
- Psalms 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
- Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.
- Malachi 4:2 “But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go out and leap like calves from the stall.
- Ezekiel 34:16 I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the broken, and strengthen the weak; but the sleek and strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them with justice.’