שִׁלּוּם

From the study of Isaiah 34:8

Range of meaning

Repayment, requital. From the root šlm, 'to be whole, to make complete, to pay in full.' The word occurs only three times: Hos 9:7 ('the days of recompense have come'), Mic 7:3 (a 'payment' as a bribe) and here, the only plural.

Against the English

'Recompense' and 'retribution' are accurate. Modern readers may take 'recompense' to mean a reward or compensation to the victim, and the word does carry the idea of paying back what is owed. 'Retribution' (NIV) brings out the punitive side but loses the picture of an account being balanced.

Used elsewhere in the period

The verb form šillēm/šallēm is the regular word for making restitution in Israel's case law (Exod 21:34–36; 22:3–14, 'he shall surely repay'). Deut 32:35 pairs it with nāqām. The same root gives šālôm, 'wholeness, peace', the state that exists when nothing is missing and nothing is owed.

From the study of Hosea 9:7

Range of meaning

Repayment or recompense, from the root š-l-m ('be whole, complete; make whole, repay'). It occurs only a few times: Isa 34:8 ('a year of recompense'), Hos 9:7, and Mic 7:3, where it means a payment or bribe.

Against the English

KJV and YLT 'recompence,' WEB 'reckoning,' BSB 'retribution.' 'Retribution' is accurate in context but sounds more vengeful than the commercial idea of paying back what is owed.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint has antapodosis ('repayment'). The same root gives shalom and the verb shillēm ('pay, make restitution'), which is used throughout the Torah's laws on restitution (e.g. Exod 22).

From the study of Micah 7:3

Range of meaning

From the root sh-l-m (wholeness, completion, settling a debt). It means a payment that settles something: recompense or retribution (Hos 9:7 'days of recompense'; Isa 34:8), reward, and here a payoff or bribe. The related shalmōnîm in Isa 1:23 means 'gifts, payoffs' alongside shōḥad 'bribe'.

Against the English

KJV 'reward' and YLT 'recompence' are formally accurate but sound harmless or even honourable in modern English. BSB/WEB 'bribe' gets the function right but loses the word's sense of a transaction being 'settled'.

How it drifted

In older English 'reward' could mean any payment given in return. Today it suggests a prize for merit, which hides the corruption.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 1:23 (an 8th-century contemporary of Micah): 'everyone loves a bribe and runs after payoffs (shalmōnîm).' Micah 3:11: 'her heads judge for a bribe (shōḥad), her priests teach for a price.' The Torah forbids judges taking bribes (Exod 23:8; Deut 16:19).