Yeremia 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 

Yeremia 51:8

51:8 But suddenly Babylonia will fall and be destroyed. ⁵ 

Cry out in mourning over it!

Get medicine for her wounds!

Perhaps she can be healed!

Kejadian 37:25

37:25 When they sat down to eat their food, they looked up ⁶  and saw ⁷  a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh down to Egypt. ⁸ 

Kejadian 43:11

43:11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best products of the land in your bags, and take a gift down to the man – a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds.

Yehezkiel 27:17

27:17 Judah and the land of Israel were your clients; they traded wheat from Minnith, ⁹  millet, honey, olive oil, and balm for your merchandise.

[8:22]  ¹ tn Heb “balm.” The more familiar “ointment” has been used in the translation, supplemented with the adjective “medicinal.”

[8:22]  sn This medicinal ointment (Heb “balm”) consisted of the gum or resin from a tree that grows in Egypt and Palestine and was thought to have medicinal value (see also Jer 46:11).

[8:22]  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.

[8:22]  sn The prophet means by this metaphor that there are still means available for healing the spiritual ills of his people, mainly repentance, obedience to the law, and sole allegiance to God, and still people available who will apply this medicine to them, namely prophets like himself.

[8:22]  ³ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

[8:22]  ⁴ tn Or more clearly, “restored to spiritual health”; Heb “Why then has healing not come to my dear people?”

[8:22]  sn Jeremiah is lamenting that though there is a remedy available for the recovery of his people they have not availed themselves of it.

[51:8]  ⁵ tn The verbs in this verse and the following are all in the Hebrew perfect tense, a tense that often refers to a past action or a past action with present results. However, as the translator’s notes have indicated, the prophets use this tense to view the actions as if they were as good as done (the Hebrew prophetic perfect). The stance here is ideal, viewed as already accomplished.

[37:25]  ⁶ tn Heb “lifted up their eyes.”

[37:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “and they saw and look.” By the use of וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, “and look”), the narrator invites the reader to see the event through the eyes of the brothers.

[37:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “and their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh, going to go down to Egypt.”

[27:17]  ⁹ sn The location is mentioned in Judg 11:33.