Which Tehillim and tefillos do you say for a refuah (a sick person)?

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 receives an aliyah and asks that a prayer be said for a person who is ill. In it we ask Hashem to send refuat hanefesh u-refuat haguf — a healing of the soul and a healing of the body. We are not only asking for the body to mend; we are asking for the whole person to be made well.

To be precise about the category: the Mi Shebeirach is a liturgical minhag — a near-universal custom of how we daven in shul — not a halachic obligation the way Shemoneh Esrei is. And you do not need to wait for shul. You can pour out your own heart to Hashem in any language, at any hour, at a bedside or alone. The formal text gives the community a shared way to lift someone up, 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 the form people use when saying Tehillim for someone who is ill.

This is a custom, not a law, and several reasons have been offered over the years. One 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 steer you away from treating any single explanation as the one undisputed source; it is a minhag with more than one reason given. The practical takeaway: 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 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 them.

Here I have to be careful, because this is exactly 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 print a particular sequence for a choleh; some arrange perakim to spell out a name or phrase. Those are customs some people keep — not a fixed, binding "say perek X to cure illness Y" rule, and I will not hand you a chart and pretend it is established din.

That said, two chapters are widely turned to, and you can see why from their plain meaning:

• Tehillim 20 opens "Ya'ancha Hashem b'yom tzarah" — "May Hashem answer you on the day of distress" — a prayer for someone in a moment of trouble.
• Tehillim 121 is a Shir LaMaalot that repeats the word "shomer" — Hashem is shomrecha, your Guardian, who neither slumbers nor sleeps. Its plain meaning is protection over a person.

Say what speaks to you. If your family or community has an order, follow it — but carry no guilt that you said the "wrong" chapter. The merit of opening Tehillim 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 one who is ill.

Why tzedakah specifically? Because tradition ties giving to life itself. "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 from death. And the words we know from the Yamim Noraim, "Teshuvah, tefillah u-tzedakah ma'avirin et roa ha-gezeirah," place tzedakah 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 "mevatlin," that they annul the decree.)

This is why many, when a loved one is ill, give tzedakah b-zechus a refuah. 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 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. Let me say it plainly: none of this is a promise of a particular outcome.

The Rambam draws a sharp and beautiful line. 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 reciting verses so that the merit of the Torah should protect a person — "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 say the words, we give the tzedakah, and we daven for a refuah shleimah, then leave the rest, with humility, to the One who heals all flesh. May Hashem send a complete healing to every choleh among His people.

Common questions

What is the Mi Shebeirach for a sick person?

It is the prayer recited in shul when the Torah is read, asking Hashem for refuat hanefesh u-refuat haguf — healing of the soul and the body — for a named choleh. It is a widespread liturgical minhag rather than a halachic obligation, and it includes a pledge of tzedakah on the sick person's behalf.

Do you use the father's name or the mother's name when davening for a refuah?

The widespread custom is to use the person's own name with their mother's name (for example, Yaakov ben Sarah). This is the form inside the Mi Shebeirach and the one used for saying Tehillim for someone ill. It is a minhag with several reasons offered for it — one often cited is Tehillim 86:16 — not an undisputed point of law.

Which chapters of Tehillim do you say for a sick person?

There is no single fixed, binding list — the specific perakim vary by community and family custom, and some siddurim print their own sequence. Two chapters are widely turned to because their plain meaning fits: Tehillim 20 ("May Hashem answer you on the day of distress") and Tehillim 121 (about Hashem as your Guardian, shomer). Saying Tehillim for a choleh is a minhag and a merit, not a perek-cures-illness rule.

Why do people give tzedakah for a refuah?

Because tradition ties giving to life: "tzedakah tatzil mi-maves" (charity saves from death) appears twice in Mishlei (10:2 and 11:4), Bava Basra 10a expounds on it, and the Yamim Noraim liturgy pairs tzedakah with teshuvah and tefillah. The Mi Shebeirach itself includes a tzedakah pledge for the choleh. Giving b-zechus a refuah — including b-zechus Rabbi Meir Baal Haness — is a well-attested custom.

Does saying Tehillim or giving tzedakah guarantee that the person will be healed?

No. The Rambam (Hilchos Avodas Kochavim 11:12) forbids treating Torah verses as physical medicine whispered over a wound, while permitting their recitation so that the merit should protect a person. Tehillim, tefillah, and tzedakah are a merit and a mitzvah — not a guaranteed transaction. We daven and give with humility and leave the outcome to Hashem.