šālôm

Semantic range

1. 1completeness, soundness, health
2. 2welfare, prosperity — the ordinary greeting
3. 3peace as the absence of conflict
4. 4covenant well-being between parties

Šālôm is not primarily the absence of something. From the root š-l-m, to be complete or whole (the same root gives šillēm, to repay or make restitution), the word describes a state in which nothing is missing and nothing is broken. To ask after someone's šālôm is to ask whether their life is intact.

That is why "the chastisement of our peace was upon him" (Isaiah 53:5) reads more sharply in Hebrew: the Servant absorbs what it costs to make us whole. And it is why the Lord's promise in D&C 19:23 — "learn of me... and you shall have peace in me" — is a promise of restored wholeness, not merely of calm.

See also

• εἰρήνηeirēnē
• תָּמִיםtāmîm
• יְשׁוּעָהyəšûʿāh