Psalm 103:3
Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases,
Psalm 103:3 (NKJV)
who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
Psalm 103:3 (NIV)
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
Psalm 103:3 (KJV)
He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.
Psalm 103:3 (NLT)
who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,
Psalm 103:3 (ESV)
Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases;
Psalm 103:3 (NASB)Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
Who forgives all your sins, Who heals all your diseases;
Psalm 103:3 (AMP)Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
Who forgives [every one of] all your iniquities, Who heals [each one of] all your diseases,
Psalm 103:3 (AMPC)Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMPC), Copyright © 1954, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
He forgives your sins, every one. He heals your diseases, every one.
Psalm 103:3 (MSG)Scripture quotations from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
New Covenant Meaning
Forgiveness and Healing Are Paired Benefits
David lists the benefits of the Lord as a way of saying: do not forget what God has done and continues to do. The two benefits in verse 3 are forgiveness and healing. They are not separated in the list. The God who forgives iniquity is the same God who heals disease. This pairing is not accidental. It mirrors what Jesus did in His ministry: He forgave sins and healed bodies in the same encounters (Matthew 9:2-6). Forgiveness addresses what is broken in your standing before God. Healing addresses what is broken in your body. Both belong to the same God and both are available to you.
Both: the Word All Applied Twice
The verse says all iniquities and all diseases. Not most. Not the ones you deserve to have forgiven. Not the ones simple enough for God to heal. All. The scope is total in both directions. David is not making a theological argument. He is rehearsing the character of the God he knows. This God does not forgive selectively or heal conditionally. He forgives all and heals all. To receive partial forgiveness or partial healing would require a different God than the one David is describing.
Psalm 103 begins with a command to the soul: bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. The word forget is key. David knew that the soul tends to forget what God has done. The list of benefits in verses 3-5 is a corrective against that forgetting. Forgiveness: check. Healing: check. Redemption from destruction: check. Satisfaction with good things: check. These are not uncertain possibilities. They are listed as established benefits. The question David poses is not whether God provides them but whether your soul has forgotten that He does.
Application for Your Life
Bring Both Needs: Forgiveness and Healing Together
Many believers have been taught to bring sin to God but hesitate to bring sickness to Him. Psalm 103:3 removes the distinction. Both belong in the same conversation because both come from the same God. When you approach God about your health, you are not in different territory than when you approach Him about your sin. The same loving Father who receives one receives the other. Bring both. Forget neither.
Rehearse the Benefits When Your Soul Forgets
The command to forget not is not a rebuke. It is practical instruction for a soul that is prone to losing track of what it has received. When you are sick and cannot feel the healing, when you are failing and cannot feel the forgiveness, return to the list. Read Psalm 103 aloud. Let the benefits remind you of what God has said. What you cannot feel is still true. The benefits of the Lord do not expire when you cannot feel them.
Prayer Based on This Verse
Father, I bless You and I will not forget. You forgive all my iniquities and You heal all my diseases. I will not put a limit on what You said You do. Not some iniquities, not some diseases. All. I bring my sin to You and I receive forgiveness. I bring my body to You and I receive healing. Both belong in Your presence. Both belong to Your character as my Father. In Jesus name. Amen.