Tehillim and Tefillos to Say for a Refuah (a Sick Person)

When someone you love is sick, you want to do something. That instinct is holy, and Judaism gives it a place to go. The central tefillah for a choleh (a sick person) is the Mi Shebeirach recited when the Torah is read, which asks Hashem for refuat hanefesh u-refuat haguf — healing of the soul and healing of the body. Alongside it, the long-standing minhag is to say Tehillim and to give tzedakah on the sick person's behalf. I want to walk you through exactly what is said and how, and I want to be honest with you about something important up front: these are a merit and a mitzvah. They are not a magic transaction that forces an outcome. We daven, we give, and then we leave the result in Hashem's hands. Let me show you how it actually works.

What Tefillos Do You Say for a Sick Person? (The Mi Shebeirach)

The best-known tefillah for a choleh is the Mi Shebeirach l'choleh — "May the One who blessed..." It is recited in shul when the Torah is read, when someone gets an aliyah and asks that a prayer be said for a person who is ill. In the text, we ask Hashem to send refuat hanefesh u-refuat haguf — a healing of the soul and a healing of the body. That phrase matters. We are not only asking for the body to mend; we are asking for the whole person to be made well, inside and out.

I want to be precise about the category here. The Mi Shebeirach is a liturgical minhag — a beautiful, near-universal custom of how we daven in shul — not a halachic obligation in the way that, say, davening Shemoneh Esrei is. You do not need to wait for shul, either. You can pour out your own heart to Hashem in any language, at any hour, at a bedside or alone. The formal Mi Shebeirach gives the community a shared way to lift up someone who is struggling, but private tefillah is always open to you.

What Name Do You Use When Davening for a Refuah?

When we daven for a choleh, the widespread custom is to use the person's own name together with their mother's name — for example, Yaakov ben Sarah (Yaakov, son of Sarah), rather than ben the father. This is the form used inside the Mi Shebeirach itself, and it is what people use when they say Tehillim for someone who is ill.

This is a custom, not a law, and several reasons have been offered for it over the years. One reason often cited is the pasuk in Tehillim 86:16, "hoshia l'ven amasecha" — "save the son of Your maidservant" — where a person appeals to Hashem through the mother. I would gently steer you away from treating any single explanation as the definitive, undisputed source; it is a minhag with more than one reason given for it. The practical takeaway is simple: when you daven for a refuah, use the sick person's name and their mother's name.

Which Tehillim Do People Say for a Refuah?

Saying Tehillim in a time of need is a deeply established minhag, and it is one of the most natural things a Jew reaches for when someone is sick. King David's words have carried our tefillos for thousands of years, and there is real comfort in turning to them.

Here is where I have to be careful with you, because this is exactly the kind of place where well-meaning lists get presented as if they were halacha. The specific perakim people say vary by community, by family custom, and by the sefer you happen to be holding. Some siddurim and Tehillim print a particular sequence of chapters for a choleh; some arrange perakim to spell out a name or a phrase. Those are customs some people have — not a fixed, binding "say perek X to cure illness Y" rule, and I am not going to hand you a chart and pretend it is established din.

That said, a couple of chapters are widely turned to, and you can understand why from their plain meaning:

• Tehillim 20 opens "Ya'ancha Hashem b'yom tzarah" — "May Hashem answer you on the day of distress." Its plain words are a prayer for someone in a moment of trouble, which is why it fits a time of illness so naturally.
• Tehillim 121 is a Shir LaMaalot that repeats the word "shomer" — Hashem is shomrecha, your Guardian, who does not slumber and does not sleep. Its plain meaning is about protection and watchfulness over a person.

Say what speaks to you. If your family or community has a particular order, follow it. But please do not carry guilt that you said the "wrong" chapter — the merit of opening Tehillim and pouring out your heart for another person is real either way.

Why Is Tzedakah Given for a Refuah, and How Does It Connect?

Notice something built right into the Mi Shebeirach: a pledge of tzedakah on the sick person's behalf. The text says, in effect, that because someone has pledged charity for the sake of the choleh, may Hashem send healing — "ba'avur she-... yiten tzedakah ba'avuro." The tefillah and the giving are knit together on purpose. We do not just ask; we act, and the act is meant to be a merit for the person who is ill.

Why tzedakah specifically? Because Jewish tradition ties giving to life itself. The phrase "tzedakah tatzil mi-maves" — "charity saves from death" — appears twice in Mishlei (10:2 and 11:4). The Gemara in Bava Basra 10a expounds on tzedakah saving a person from death. And the words we all know from the Yamim Noraim, "Teshuvah, tefillah u-tzedakah ma'avirin et roa ha-gezeirah," place tzedakah right alongside teshuvah and tefillah as a response to a harsh decree. (A careful note: that famous line is the liturgical wording of the machzor. Its source is the Yerushalmi Taanis 2:1, where Rabbi Lazar lists the three a little differently — tefillah, tzedakah, and teshuvah — and uses the word "mevatlin," that they annul the decree. Same powerful idea, slightly different order and verb in the original.)

This is why so many people, when a loved one is ill, give tzedakah b-zechus a refuah — in the merit of a recovery. A widely kept minhag is to give b-zechus Rabbi Meir Baal Haness, an age-old custom of giving charity in his merit as a tefillah for help in a time of need; you can give tzedakah in the zechus of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness the same way. The giving is not a coin in a vending machine. It is teshuvah, tefillah, and tzedakah working together — turning our worry into a concrete good in the world.

Does Saying These Guarantee a Healing?

No. And I would not be honest with you if I said otherwise. This is the most important paragraph on the page, so let me say it plainly: none of this is a promise of a particular outcome.

The Rambam draws a sharp and beautiful line here. In Hilchos Avodas Kochavim 11:12, he forbids a person who whispers a pasuk over a wound as if the words themselves were medicine — treating Torah like a physical drug to heal the flesh. That is not what we are doing. But the Rambam permits a healthy person to recite verses so that the merit of the Torah should protect him — "kedei she-tagen alav zechus, harei zeh mutar." The whole frame is merit and protection, not a guaranteed cure on demand.

So hold both truths at once. Davening, Tehillim, and tzedakah are real, they matter, and we are commanded toward them — and at the same time, we are not in control of the result, and we do not pretend to be. We pour out our hearts because the Ribono shel Olam listens, because the mitzvos are good in themselves, and because love needs somewhere to go. We say the words, we give the tzedakah, and we daven for a refuah shleimah — and then we leave the rest, with humility, to the One who heals all flesh. May Hashem send a complete healing to every choleh among His people.