Shalom

Range of the word. Shalom, a Hebrew noun related to the root shalam and the adjective shalem, covers soundness, welfare, security, and peace. Brown-Driver-Briggs records uses concerning health, friendly relations, and the absence of war; no single English equivalent reproduces every shade of meaning in every context. Saying that it means “nothing is broken” can be a helpful image, but it is not a literal translation or a fixed list of health, justice, and provision. In Genesis 29:6 Jacob asks after Laban's welfare; in 43:27 Joseph asks after his father's. Both are ordinary conversations. In Genesis 26:31, after an oath, the parties part in peace: the setting is a repaired relationship. [Strong/BDB, Hebrew 7965; Jewish Encyclopedia, “Peace”]

Blessing and public life. Numbers 6:24-26 closes the priestly blessing with a request that God give shalom. Its final position gathers wishes for protection, favor, and presence into a brief formula without defining a single theory of peace. Jeremiah 29:7 calls on exiles to seek the welfare of their host city and pray for it, since their own welfare is bound to that of the city. The word can thus concern a community and its living conditions, not only an inward feeling. Psalm 122:6 joins prayer for Jerusalem's peace to the safety of those who love it. These examples show why the word occurs in greetings, prayers, agreements, and questions of living together. [Strong/BDB, Hebrew 7965; Jewish Encyclopedia, “Peace”]

Prophets and translation. Isaiah 9:6 includes “Prince of Peace” among the titles of a royal figure; Jewish and Christian readings differ on that figure's identity. Isaiah 32:17 connects justice with peace, while Jeremiah 6:14 criticizes those who announce peace where none exists. The word does not guarantee that a situation is good: it can be part of a deceptive claim. Ecclesiastes 3:8 contrasts a time for war with a time for peace, a sense closer to the absence of armed conflict. Translators must attend to each passage before choosing “peace,” “welfare,” or “security.” [Jewish Encyclopedia, “Peace”; Strong/BDB, Hebrew 7965]

Greek and later readings. The Greek version of the Bible often rendered shalom with eirēnē, a word that later appears in New Testament greetings and speeches. Luke 24:36 presents a greeting of peace by the risen Jesus; John 14:27 distinguishes the peace Jesus gives from what the world gives. The connection helps trace a history of translation, but it does not justify imposing the sense of every Hebrew passage on every Greek use. Peace remained a subject of blessing, teaching, and future hope in later Jewish literature. The Jewish Encyclopedia collects examples of this reception and notes that the word can denote friendship, welfare, or the opposite of war. Reading it carefully requires attention to each writer's context. [Strong, Greek 1515; Jewish Encyclopedia, “Peace”]

Ordinary encounters. Brown-Driver-Briggs shows that shalom can describe a person's condition, a relationship, or safety on a journey. When Jacob asks about Laban in Genesis 29:6, a conventional inquiry after his welfare may communicate the scene better than an abstract political term. When Joseph asks about his father in Genesis 43:27, his concern is the condition of someone absent. The word does not require us to imagine that every conflict around them has ended. In Genesis 26:31, however, a peaceful departure follows an agreement; the conduct of two groups and their new commitment matter there. One Hebrew form receives different English renderings because these narratives ask different questions. Consulting the wider passage is therefore part of translating the word, rather than an optional addition to a fixed definition. [Brown-Driver-Briggs, Hebrew 7965; Jewish Encyclopedia, “Peace”]

The priestly blessing. Numbers 6:24-26 is not a dictionary entry but a threefold blessing. The request for shalom comes after wishes for protection and favor, connecting peace with a favorable relation to God. It does not promise that every recipient will avoid every loss. The passage records what is requested in the act of blessing rather than all future events in a listener's life. Jewish reading retained the importance of peace in prayer and greeting; the Jewish Encyclopedia documents this continuing use. In that setting, a word exchanged between people can express a wish that another's life may go well. The force of the formula depends on its liturgical and social setting as well as its lexical range. [Numbers 6:24-26; Jewish Encyclopedia, “Peace”]

City and community. Jeremiah 29:7 addresses people in exile. Seeking the host city's shalom means pursuing its welfare in a specific setting and praying for it, because the exiles' prospects are tied to conditions there. It does not say that exile was just or that tensions among peoples had ceased. Psalm 122:6 places another city, Jerusalem, at the center of a public request for peace. In both texts the word reaches beyond private feeling: it can involve shared safety, coexistence, and a community's future. The writers nevertheless speak from different circumstances. Turning either passage directly into a present political program would require further arguments that the noun shalom alone cannot supply. [Jeremiah 29:7; Psalm 122:6; Brown-Driver-Briggs, Hebrew 7965]

Prophetic promise and criticism. Isaiah 32:17 links peace with justice; Jeremiah 6:14 exposes a declaration of peace that does not match reality. The tension matters: the word may express grounded hope or become an empty slogan. Isaiah 9:6 places it in a royal title whose referent Jewish and Christian readers interpret differently. None of these passages makes a Hebrew dictionary entry into a complete doctrine of salvation. Literary context tells us who speaks, to whom, and whether peace is a promise, request, title, or accusation. Ecclesiastes 3:8 adds another use by contrasting a time for war with a time for peace in a sequence of seasons. That contrast is clear, though it does not exhaust the noun's other uses. [Jewish Encyclopedia, “Peace”; Brown-Driver-Briggs, Hebrew 7965]

Across languages and traditions. Greek eirēnē can render shalom and also functions as a word in its own right in New Testament writings. The greeting in Luke 24:36 and the speech in John 14:27 use that Greek word, but their scenes differ: one narrates an encounter and the other records farewell teaching. Christian reception connected such passages with its readings of prophetic promises; Jewish traditions continued reading shalom in their own texts and practices. Comparing these paths calls for describing each without assigning one tradition's interpretation to the other. Careful translation asks whether a passage concerns health, agreement, security, communal welfare, or the end of war. “Peace” is often useful, though it can leave a nuance that the narrative makes visible unstated. [Thayer/Strong, Greek 1515; Jewish Encyclopedia, “Peace”]