StrongerBible

shelem

שֶׁלֶם

HebrewH8002“peace offering, fellowship offering, ...”

Appears 87 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Exo 20:24Exo 24:5Exo 29:28Exo 32:6Lev 3:1Lev 3:3Lev 3:6Lev 3:9Lev 4:10Lev 4:26Lev 4:31Lev 4:35Lev 6:12(5)Lev 7:11Lev 7:13Lev 7:14Lev 7:15Lev 7:18Lev 7:20Lev 7:21Lev 7:29 (2×)Lev 7:32Lev 7:33Lev 7:34Lev 9:4Lev 10:14Lev 17:5Lev 19:5Lev 22:21Lev 23:19Num 6:14Num 6:17Num 10:10Num 15:8Num 29:39Jos 22:27Ezk 43:27Ezk 46:2Ezk 46:12Amo 5:22
Names & words formed with this
Word studyResearch-gradeSHEH-lem (plural sheh-lah-MEEM)noun

What shelem means

the well-being offering: the shared sacrifice that celebrates a person's wholeness with God, in which God, the priest, and the worshipper each receive a portion and the worshipper feasts on the rest

TranslatabilityUntranslatableCertaintyContested

This was ancient Israel's celebration sacrifice, almost always named in the plural (transliterated shelamim). What sets it apart is that it is the one sacrifice the worshipper actually got to eat. The animal was divided three ways: the fat and the blood went to God, certain choice cuts (the breast and the right thigh) went to the officiating priest, and the rest of the meat was eaten by the worshipper and their household in a glad meal at the sanctuary, in God's presence.

It was not a sacrifice for forgiveness. Unlike the offerings that dealt with sin and guilt, this one did nothing to repair a broken relationship; it assumed the relationship was sound and celebrated that fact. That is why it shows up at the high points of Israel's life: sealing the covenant at Sinai (Exodus 24:5), dedicating the ark (2 Samuel 6:17-18), crowning a king (1 Samuel 11:15), and the great temple dedication under Solomon (1 Kings 8:63). Wherever there was joy and thanksgiving before God, this offering turned it into a feast.

Leviticus 7 lists three occasions that call for one: thanksgiving after God rescues you, the paying of a vow, and a spontaneous freewill gift. These are three reasons for bringing the offering, not three different meanings of the word. In every case the sacrifice is the same and the heart of it is the same: a meal shared in God's presence.

The word's exact shade is genuinely debated (see the dispute below), which is why English Bibles render it so many different ways. The oldest Greek translation, the rabbis, and much modern scholarship point toward the idea of well-being or soundness: the worshipper, having received health, deliverance, or simple gladness from God, brings this offering to celebrate that wholeness at a table. The familiar renderings "peace offering" and "fellowship offering" each capture a real part of that, but each can also mislead.

Exo 20:24Exo 24:5Exo 29:28Exo 32:6Lev 3:1Lev 3:3Lev 3:6Lev 3:9Lev 4:10Lev 4:26Lev 4:31Lev 4:35

What scholars say about shelem

There is broad agreement on what the sacrifice did and sharp disagreement on what it was named for. On function the consensus is firm (Milgrom, AB 3; Levine; Rainey): the rite is non-expiatory, is the only sacrifice the lay offerer eats, uses a simple blood manipulation with only the suet burned, subdivides in the Priestly material into thanksgiving (todah), votive (neder), and freewill (nedavah) types, and stands last in procedural sequences as the climactic communion phase. On the name, every etymology is conjectural (Janowski's much-cited verdict), and the major lexica document the options without adjudicating (BDB explicitly labels the noun disputed; so HALOT, DCH, Gesenius18). The leading proposals: derivation from the wholeness/well-being field, now standard in NJPS and NRSV and argued by Milgrom on rabbinic and functional grounds (Sipra Nedaba 16:3); the traditional "peace" derivation defended by Wenham (NICOT); a "completion/concluding" reading (Gerleman in TLOT, with TDOT) grounded in the rite's last position in sequence; Levine's "sacred gift of greeting" from Akkadian shulmanu and the Ugaritic Kirta epic (criticized by Milgrom and Pardee because that Akkadian word is never used of an offering to a god); and the older communion-meal theory (W. Robertson Smith) preserved in the Catholic "communion sacrifice" and NIV's "fellowship offering." The cognate evidence (Ugaritic shlmm, paired with a burnt offering exactly as in Hebrew; Punic shlm in the sacrificial tariffs) firmly establishes a shared West-Semitic sacrificial category but cannot settle the inner-Hebrew naming question. The Greek Old Testament itself splits: the Pentateuch through Ezekiel renders it with a word built on deliverance/preservation, while Samuel and Kings use a word built on peace, anticipating the modern divide by two millennia (Daniel, Recherches; Buchner).

Where scholars disagree about shelem

What the sacrifice is named for. The root behind the word covers a cluster of ideas (wholeness, peace, completion, payment), and scholars disagree about which one gives the sacrifice its name. Every proposal is acknowledged to be conjectural, and the standard lexica list the options without deciding (BDB labels the noun disputed).

  • majorityFrom the idea of wholeness or well-being: the offering celebrates the soundness and flourishing the worshipper has received from God. This is now the standard scholarly reading and matches the oldest Greek translation and a rabbinic gloss that a person who feels well brings this offering while a mourner does not.; Milgrom, Jacob. Leviticus 1-16. AB 3. New York: Doubleday, 1991, 217-25.; Levine, Baruch A. Leviticus. JPS Torah Commentary. Philadelphia: JPS, 1989, 14-17.
  • minorityFrom the idea of peace: the traditional rendering, defended on the grounds that "peace" in a worship setting already means health, prosperity, and peace with God.; Wenham, Gordon J. The Book of Leviticus. NICOT. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979, 76-80.
  • minorityFrom the idea of completion or concluding: the root's core sense is being whole or complete, and this sacrifice completes or concludes a ritual sequence (it consistently stands last in actual performance).; Gerleman, G. "שלם šlm genug haben." TLOT/THAT, vol. II.
  • minorityFrom a diplomatic gift of greeting: the word matches an Akkadian term for the tribute a vassal presents to a lord, so the offering is the worshipper's gift on entering God's presence. Critics note that the Akkadian word is never used of an offering to a god.; Levine, Baruch A. In the Presence of the Lord. SJLA 5. Leiden: Brill, 1974, 3-52.
In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • Milgrom, Jacob. Leviticus 1-16. Anchor Bible 3. New York: Doubleday, 1991, 217-25.commentary
  • Levine, Baruch A. In the Presence of the Lord. SJLA 5. Leiden: Brill, 1974, 3-52.monograph
  • Levine, Baruch A. Leviticus. JPS Torah Commentary. Philadelphia: JPS, 1989, 14-17.commentary
  • Wenham, Gordon J. The Book of Leviticus. NICOT. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979, 76-84.commentary
  • Rainey, Anson F. "The Order of Sacrifices in Old Testament Ritual Texts." Biblica 51 (1970) 485-98.article
  • Gerleman, G. "שלם šlm genug haben." TLOT/THAT, vol. II.dictionary
  • Janowski, Bernd. "Erwägungen zur Vorgeschichte des israelitischen šĕlāmîm-Opfers." Ugarit-Forschungen 12 (1980) 231-59.article
  • Daniel, Suzanne. Recherches sur le vocabulaire du culte dans la Septante. Paris: Klincksieck, 1966.monograph
  • HALOT, s.v. שֶׁלֶםlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. שֶׁלֶםlexicon

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of שֶׁלֶם

m p absolute

שְּׁלָמִים, שְׁלָמִים

Lev 3:3, Lev 3:9, Lev 4:10, Lev 4:26, Lev 4:31, Lev 4:35, Lev 6:12, Lev 7:11

m p construct

שְׁלָמָיו

Lev 7:13, Lev 7:15, Lev 7:18, Lev 7:29, Lev 7:29, Ezk 46:2, Ezk 46:12

m p construct

שַׁלְמֵיכֶם

Lev 7:32, Num 10:10, Num 29:39, Ezk 43:27

m p construct

שַׁלְמֵיהֶם

Exo 29:28, Lev 7:34

m p construct

שַׁלְמֵי

Lev 10:14

m p construct

שְׁלָמֵינוּ

Jos 22:27

m p construct

שְׁלָמֶיךָ

Exo 20:24

m s construct

שֶׁלֶם

Amo 5:22