Jeremiah 8:22

8:22 There is still medicinal ointment ¹  available in Gilead!

There is still a physician there! ² 

Why then have my dear people ³ 

not been restored to health? ⁴ 

Matthew 9:12-13

9:12 When ⁵  Jesus heard this he said, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do. ⁶  9:13 Go and learn what this saying means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’ ⁷  For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Mark 2:17

2:17 When Jesus heard this he said to them, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do. ⁸  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

¹ tn Heb “balm.” The more familiar “ointment” has been used in the translation, supplemented with the adjective “medicinal.”

² tn Heb “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?” In this context the questions are rhetorical and expect a positive answer, which is made explicit in the translation.

³ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

⁴ tn Or more clearly, “restored to spiritual health”; Heb “Why then has healing not come to my dear people?”

⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

⁶ sn Jesus’ point is that he associates with those who are sick because they have the need and will respond to the offer of help. A person who is healthy (or who thinks mistakenly that he is) will not seek treatment.

⁷ sn A quotation from Hos 6:6 (see also Matt 12:7).

⁸ sn Jesus’ point is that he associates with those who are sick because they have the need and will respond to the offer of help. A person who is healthy (or who thinks mistakenly that he is) will not seek treatment.