Shalom
Shalom is the Hebrew word commonly translated “peace,” but it often means more than the absence of conflict. In Scripture it can refer to wholeness, well-being, harmony, and blessing under God’s favor.
At a Glance
Shalom is the Hebrew word commonly translated “peace,” but it often means more than the absence of conflict. In Scripture it can refer to wholeness, well-being, harmony, and blessing under God’s favor.
Description
Shalom is the standard Hebrew term usually translated “peace,” yet in Scripture it commonly carries a broader sense of wholeness, welfare, completeness, safety, and right order under God’s blessing. The word can be used in everyday greetings and farewells, for national peace instead of war, for personal well-being, and for covenantal blessing in a life ordered by obedience to the Lord. The prophets also use peace language in ways that look beyond temporary calm to the restoration and blessing God himself gives. In the New Testament, the Greek term for peace overlaps with this biblical idea and is especially tied to reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ and to the peace believers are to pursue with one another. Because the term is broad, the safest definition is that shalom means peace in the fullest biblical sense: well-being and wholeness that come from God’s gracious order and favor.