Aramaic word · H7960

שָׁלוּ

shalu

neglect

Negligence, remissness, fault, something wrong or amiss. From a root meaning 'be at ease, be careless'.

A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of the Aramaic of the Old Testament. · Updated October 24, 2026

What it means

neglect, remissness

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

Range of meaning: Negligence, remissness, fault, something wrong or amiss. From a root meaning 'be at ease, be careless'.
Against the English: KJV/WEB 'anything amiss/evil', BSB 'anything offensive', YLT 'erroneously'. Several modern versions simply say 'anything against', which loses the idea of a careless or improper word. The Greek and Latin translators rendered it 'blasphemy', which narrows it toward deliberate insult.
How it drifted: The Greek and Latin 'blasphemy' tradition led readers to picture a formal blasphemy law aimed at deliberate cursing of a deity. The Aramaic word is broader and lower-threshold: any slighting, faulty or careless word.
Used elsewhere in the period: Daniel 6:4: the officials could find 'no fault/negligence' (שָׁלוּ) in Daniel. Ezra 4:22: 'be careful not to be negligent' (שָׁלוּ). Ezra 6:9: supplies to be given 'without fail' (לָא שָׁלוּ). The Ketiv (written consonants) here is שׁלה. Some commentators have connected it with an Akkadian word for insolent speech, but this is a minority suggestion.

Range of meaning: Negligence, remissness, slackness: failing to carry out an obligation. Something 'amiss' or left undone.
Against the English: KJV/WEB/ESV 'error', BSB/NIV/NASB 'negligence'. 'Negligence' is the more accurate rendering.
How it drifted: Older English 'error' could mean a moral lapse or straying. Today it mostly means a mistake, which can suggest Daniel never made a mistake. The point is that he never neglected his duty.
Used elsewhere in the period: Ezra 4:22, in a Persian royal letter: 'take care not to be negligent (šālû)'. Ezra 6:9: supplies to be given 'without fail' (dî lāʾ šālû). Daniel 3:29: 'anything amiss' spoken against God (Qere reading). It is a Persian chancery term about carrying out orders.

Ezra · 2

Ezra 4:22 שָׁל֖וּ negligence

See that you do not neglect this matter. Why allow this threat to increase and the royal interests to suffer?
Ezra 6:9 שָׁלֽוּ׃ negligence

Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, as well as wheat, salt, wine, and oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem—must be given to them daily without fail.

Daniel · 2

Daniel 3:29 שָׁלוּ֙ negligence

Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be cut into pieces and their houses reduced to rubble. For there is no other god who can deliver in this way.”

Here: Something careless, faulty or wrong. In Daniel 6:4 and Ezra 4:22 and 6:9 the same word means a lapse or dereliction. The ban covers any slighting or improper word, not only formal blasphemy.
Daniel 6:4 שָׁלוּ֙ negligence

Thus the administrators and satraps sought a charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find no charge or corruption, because he was trustworthy, and no negligence or corruption was found in him.

Here: Slackness in duty, failing to do what one is responsible for. Persian-period royal orders use the same word for exactly this (Ezra 4:22; 6:9).

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.