To be safe (in mind, body or estate); figuratively, to be (causatively, make ) completed ; by implication, to be friendly ; by extension, to reciprocate (in various applications)
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שָׁלַם (shalam) is a Hebrew verb whose range includes being complete or at peace, finishing, fulfilling, repaying, restoring, recompensing, rewarding, and making restitution. Exodus case laws repeatedly use the verb for making good a loss involving livestock, property, theft, or damage.
Reader summary
Full entry for שָׁלַם (H7999) · Open the biblical lexicon
שָׁלַם (shalam) is a Hebrew verb whose range includes being complete or at peace, finishing, fulfilling, repaying, restoring, recompensing, rewarding, and making restitution. Exodus case laws repeatedly use the verb for making good a loss involving livestock, property, theft, or damage.
The BSB source-word alignment has 116 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include . . . (6), I will fulfill (5), repay (4), he must make restitution (3), I will repay (3).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 44:4. Its strongest book concentrations include Exodus (18), Psalms (17), Isaiah (13), Job (11).
שָׁלַם (shalam) is a Hebrew verb whose range includes being complete or at peace, finishing, fulfilling, repaying, restoring, recompensing, rewarding, and making restitution. Exodus case laws repeatedly use the verb for making good a loss involving livestock, property, theft, or damage. Other passages speak of paying vows, repaying conduct, completing construction, restoring what was taken, or making peace. The word-family relationship with shalom is real, but H7999 usage cannot be reduced to 'making everything whole.'
Restitution texts show that harm can create material obligation. Ezekiel 33 pairs restoring a pledge and returning what was taken by robbery with turning toward just conduct. Yet biblical cases do not provide a one-size-fits-all formula for modern criminal law, abuse response, trauma repair, or reconciliation. Repayment cannot erase injury, purchase forgiveness, silence a victim, or remove the need for protection and public accountability.
H7999 can also describe divine recompense and human retaliation, fulfillment of vows, completion of temple or wall work, and peaceful relations between groups. These are related uses, not a promise that every debt will be repaid or every relationship restored in the present. Completion, restitution, peace, and recompense must be taught according to the particular subject, object, and genre.
H7999 occurs in legal restitution, vows, repayment, divine and human recompense, treaty or peace language, restoration, and the completion of tasks or structures.
The owner of an uncovered pit must make restitution for an animal lost in it, while receiving the dead animal.
Theft of livestock carries multiplied restitution, placing repayment within a specific covenant case law.
Wrong involving a holy thing requires restitution plus an added fifth and a guilt offering.
The wicked person who restores a pledge, returns what was taken, and practices justice is described within a call to turn and live.
The psalm contrasts the wicked person who borrows and does not repay with the righteous person who gives generously.
The proverb says that ways pleasing to the Lord can bring even enemies into peace, a wisdom observation rather than a guarantee of safety.
A person who makes a vow to God is warned not to delay fulfilling it.
Boaz asks the Lord to repay Ruth's work and grant a full reward under God's wings.
David says the rich man in Nathan's parable must repay fourfold, before the prophet exposes David's own offense.
The wall is completed in fifty-two days despite opposition, giving the verb a concrete completion sense.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Wholeness encompassing safety, completion, and peace; foundational to covenant restoration and reciprocal obligation
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 116 lexical occurrence verses.
שָׁלַם is a primitive root - no further derivation.
The completion emphasizes God’s faithfulness in bringing covenant restoration to a decisive milestone. Nehemiah 6:15-19
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H7999 helps teachers move from vague language about making things right to the concrete obligations named in a passage. Exodus requires material repayment for identifiable property loss and negligence. Ezekiel joins returning what was taken with changed conduct. Vow texts require integrity, completion texts honor finished work, and recompense texts distinguish responsibility from personal revenge.
These strands should not be fused into the claim that every wound can be fully repaired by payment or apology. In abuse, exploitation, theft, or institutional harm, restitution may include returning resources, covering costs, correcting records, relinquishing power, and accepting consequences, while the harmed person retains boundaries and control over contact.
Forgiveness cannot be bought, and reconciliation cannot be demanded. Civil reporting, safeguarding, trauma care, and legal remedies may remain necessary even when an offender expresses repentance or offers repayment.
Exod.22.1
H7999 takes different senses across stems and constructions, including be complete or at peace, finish, repay, restore, recompense, fulfill, and make restitution. Its word-family relation to H7965 is relevant background, but H7965's full semantic range cannot be read into every H7999 occurrence.
New Testament teaching on restitution, reconciliation, debt, judgment, reward, and completed work can extend the canonical conversation, but no single Greek verb maps onto the full H7999 range. Zacchaeus offers a narrative connection to restitution, not a mechanical lexical continuation.
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