Plague and other diseases of the Hebrews.
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
In the sacred books of the Old and New Testaments the following diseases are mentioned: wasting or consumption (Lev. 26:16, Deut. 28:22), fever, ague, inflammation, leprosy, hemorrhoids, scab, itch, madness, blindness, and failing of heart (Lev. 26:16, 25, Deut. 28:22, 27, 28, 32:24). Besides these are mentioned: pain in the belly (Acts 28:8), rage or madness (Zech. 12:4), plague, burning wind (Hab. 3:5), tumors (1 Sam. 5:6–9), issue of seed, withered hand (Matt. 12:10), leprosy (Num. 12:10), pestilence (1 Kings 8:37), palsy or paralysis of limbs (1 Kings 13:37 [as cited], John 5:3–5), sunstroke (2 Kings 4:18–20), dropsy (Luke 14:2), issue of blood (Matt. 9:20), gangrene (2 Tim. 2:17), sores or festering wounds (Is. 1:6), stammering (Mark 7:32), lameness (2 Sam. 4:4), deafness (Mark 7:32), blindness (Lev. 19:14 [as cited]), and certain others.
There were also extraordinary and incurable diseases against which every remedy was of no avail, such as, for instance, Job’s leprosy (Job 2:7), the long-standing infirmity of the man at Bethesda (John 5:5), the man born blind (John 9:1), the disease of Jehoram with the falling out of his bowels (2 Chron. 21:12–15), the mental illness of Saul (1 Sam. 16:14–15), the madness of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 4:13, 5:18), the being eaten by worms of Antiochus (2 Macc. 9:9) and of Herod Agrippa (Acts 22:23 [as cited]).
Of a particular kind of sufferer were the demon-possessed (see Demon-possessed). The Lord Jesus Christ, during His earthly life, healed people afflicted with incurable diseases in the twinkling of an eye, by His divine word alone, or by the touch of His hand, or even through the touching of His garment, and He raised the dead. Healing Himself, He also gave that same power and authority to the apostles: to heal every sickness and every disease (Matt. 11:1 [as cited]). Concerning the nature of most of these diseases, unfortunately, very little can be said, owing to the brevity with which they are indicated in Holy Scripture.
Nevertheless it is not without foundation to suppose that the predominant epidemic diseases in Palestine from the most ancient times remain the same as those to which this country is still subject. They may be divided into the following four classes: