Marcia Mitchell Hood, in her 2004 disseration (page 50), says, "There is a Balm in Gilead is based on an existing spiritual titled, 'Balm in Gilead,' that was included in John Wesley Work’s collection of Negro Folk songs (John Wesley Work, Folk Songs of the American Negro [New York: Negro Universities Press, 1973], 43.) The current rendition can be attributed to William Levi Dawson
Based on Jeremiah 8:22