shalam · repay; be complete

What it means

shalam (שָׁלַם) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “repay; be complete”.

Repay, give back what is owed; be complete, be at peace.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. To be finished, or kept safe.
2. To settle a debt, give back; keep a vow.
3. To come to terms with someone.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To be complete, whole; hence to pay what is owed, to give back, to fulfill and to make peace. BDB: to be safe, complete; by extension, to reciprocate: to pay, restore, reward, perform (a vow), make peace. It is of the same root as שָׁלוֹם, “peace” (H7965), and שֶׁלֶם, “peace offering” (H8002).

• Paying or making good a loss in the laws Exodus 22:1Exodus 22:3
• Paying a vow Psalms 50:142 Samuel 15:7
• Giving each what he deserves; rewarding Ruth 2:12Deuteronomy 7:10
• Making peace with someone Joshua 10:11 Kings 22:44
• Being complete, finished 1 Kings 7:51

Historical and cultural background

The laws of Exodus 21–22 fix how much someone who causes a loss or steals must pay; the thief who has nothing to pay with “shall be sold for his theft” (Exodus 22:3).

How we translate it

“Repay” 50 times, “fulfill” 9, “pay” 7, “made peace” 6, “I will pay” 5, “repaid” 5, “restore” 3, “was completed” 3… In the laws it is “repay”, and when the Hebrew repeats the verb for emphasis, “He shall surely repay” (Exodus 22:3). With vows, שִׁלֵּם נֶדֶר is “pay my vow” (2 Samuel 15:7), and in the Psalms too (“pay to Elyon your vows”, Psalm 50:14); “was completed” when a work is finished; “made peace” when it is a pact between peoples.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• repay ×50
• fulfill ×9
• pay ×7
• made peace ×6
• I will pay ×5
• repaid ×5
• be at peace ×3
• restore ×3
• was completed ×3
• he repays ×2
• others ×23

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×1
• Exodus×18
• Leviticus×4
• Deuteronomy×5
• Joshua×3
• Judges×1
• Ruth×1
• 1 Samuel×1
• 2 Samuel×5
• 1 Kings×3
• 2 Kings×2
• 1 Chronicles×1
• 2 Chronicles×1
• Nehemiah×1
• Job×11
• Psalms×17
• Proverbs×10
• Ecclesiastes×3
• Isaiah×13
• Jeremiah×9
• Ezekiel×1
• Hosea×1
• Joel×2
• Jonah×1
• Nahum×1

• Genesis 44:4

  They had gone out of the city and had not gone far when Joseph said to the one over his house, “Get up, pursue the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good?

• Exodus 21:34

  the owner of the pit shall repay; he shall give back silver to its owner, and the dead animal shall be his.

• Exodus 21:36

  Or if it is known that the ox has been given to goring in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall surely repay, ox for ox, and the dead animal shall be his.

• Exodus 22:1

  When a man steals an ox or a lamb and slaughters it or sells it, he shall repay five cattle for the ox and four sheep for the lamb.

• Exodus 22:3

  if the sun has risen on him, there is bloodguilt for him. He shall surely repay; if he has nothing, he shall be sold for his theft.

• Exodus 22:4

  If the stolen thing is actually found in his hand alive, whether ox or donkey or lamb, he shall repay double.

• Exodus 22:5

  When a man lets a field or a vineyard be grazed over, and lets loose his livestock and it grazes in another's field, he shall repay from the best of his field and the best of his vineyard.

• Exodus 22:6

  When fire breaks out and catches thorns, so that stacked grain or the standing grain or the field is consumed, the one who kindled the fire shall surely repay.

• Exodus 22:7

  When a man gives his neighbor silver or goods to keep, and it is stolen from the house of the man, if the thief is found, he shall repay double.

• Exodus 22:9

  In every case of transgression, whether for an ox, for a donkey, for a lamb, for a garment, or for any lost thing of which someone says, ‘This is it,’ the case of the two of them shall come before Elohim; the one whom Elohim declares guilty shall repay double to his neighbor.

• Exodus 22:11

  an oath of YHWH shall be between the two of them that he has not put his hand to the goods of his neighbor; its owner shall accept it, and he shall not repay.

• Exodus 22:12

  But if it is actually stolen from him, he shall repay its owner.

• Exodus 22:13

  If it is actually torn by beasts, let him bring it as evidence; for what was torn he shall not repay.

• Exodus 22:14

  When a man borrows an animal from his neighbor and it is injured or dies, its owner not being with it, he shall surely repay.

• Exodus 22:15

  If its owner was with it, he shall not repay. If it was hired, its hire covers the loss.

• Leviticus 5:16

  And what he has sinned against the holy thing he shall restore, and he shall add a fifth to it and give it to the priest; and the priest shall make expiation for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and he will be forgiven.

• Leviticus 6:5

  or anything about which he swore falsely; he shall repay it in full and add a fifth of it to it; he shall give it to the one to whom it belongs on the day of his guilt offering.

• Leviticus 24:18

  And whoever strikes a beast mortally shall make it good, life for life.

• Leviticus 24:21

  And whoever strikes a beast shall make it good, but whoever strikes a human being shall be put to death.

• Deuteronomy 7:10

  and who repays those who hate him to their face, making them perish; he will not delay with the one who hates him; to his face he will repay him.

• Deuteronomy 20:12

  But if it does not make peace with you but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it.

• Deuteronomy 23:21

  When you make a vow to YHWH your Elohim, you shall not delay to pay it, for YHWH your Elohim will surely require it of you, and it will be sin in you.

• Deuteronomy 32:41

  if I sharpen the lightning of my sword and my hand takes hold of judgment, I will return vengeance to my adversaries and repay those who hate me.

• Joshua 10:1

  And it came about, when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had taken Ai and devoted it to destruction —as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king— and that the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them,

• Joshua 10:4

  “Come up to me and help me, and let us strike Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and with the sons of Israel.”

• Joshua 11:19

  There was not a city that made peace with the sons of Israel except the Hivite, the inhabitants of Gibeon; all they took in battle.

• Judges 1:7

  Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings, with the thumbs of their hands and of their feet cut off, used to gather scraps under my table. As I have done, so Elohim has repaid me.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

• Ruth 2:12

  May YHWH repay your work, and may your wages be full from YHWH, Elohim of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

• 1 Samuel 24:19

  When a man finds his enemy, will he send him off on a good way? May YHWH repay you with good for what you have done to me this day.

• 2 Samuel 3:39

  And I am soft today, though anointed king, and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are harder than I. May YHWH repay the one who does evil according to his evil!”

• 2 Samuel 10:19

  When all the kings, servants of Hadadezer, saw that they had been struck down before Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them. And Aram was afraid to save the sons of Ammon anymore.

• 2 Samuel 12:6

  And he shall repay the ewe lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

• 2 Samuel 15:7

  At the end of forty years Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go and pay my vow that I vowed to YHWH, in Hebron.

• 2 Samuel 20:19

  I am among the peaceful and faithful of Israel. You are seeking to put to death a city and a mother in Israel. Why will you swallow up the inheritance of YHWH?”

• 1 Kings 7:51

  And all the work that King Solomon did in the house of YHWH was completed. And Solomon brought in the holy things of David his father: the silver and the gold and the utensils he put in the treasuries of the house of YHWH.

• 1 Kings 9:25

  And Solomon offered three times in the year burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar that he had built for YHWH, and he offered up in smoke with it, on that which was before YHWH; and he completed the house.

• 1 Kings 22:44

  Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.

• 2 Kings 4:7

  She came and told the man of Elohim, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt, and you and your sons can live on what is left.”

• 2 Kings 9:26

  ‘Surely the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons I saw yesterday, declares YHWH, and I will repay you in this plot, declares YHWH.’ So now pick him up and throw him into the plot, according to the word of YHWH.”

• 1 Chronicles 19:19

  When the servants of Hadadezer saw that they had been struck down before Israel, they made peace with David and served him. And Aram was not willing to save the sons of Ammon anymore.

And 76 more times.